


Unfolding

by Cezet



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2016-06-21
Packaged: 2018-07-11 17:31:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 25,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7062655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cezet/pseuds/Cezet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just a little romance fic with Baron Corbin and an OC, set in NXT prior to his call-up</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Baron Corbin was walking down the hall at the training center the same as he did every day. People got out of his way, the same as they did every day. Monotony. He was tired of being passed over for the call-up. He knew he was ready, beyond ready, really, to be on the main stage. As he walked past a juncture in the halls, someone walked into him. With quick reflexes bourn of many years being the largest person around, he grabbed the other person by the upper arms to make sure she wouldn’t fall. 

“I beg your pardon,” the woman said, her hands gripping his forearms as she steadied herself, “I did not see you there.”

“I’m 6’8. That’s kind of hard to miss,” he said baldly as he dropped his arms back to his sides.

“Yes, I should be more aware of my surroundings. It is my first day in this building and I am not yet aware of the layout,” she replied, “I am Val Gunvaldsson.”

“Baron Corbin” he said. 

“Could I trouble you to point me towards the trainers’ room?” she asked.

He gestured back down the hall the way she’d come. “Third door that way.”

“Thank you, Baron Corbin,” she said as she turned and walked back down the hall. 

He noted that she was quite tall for a woman, probably six feet or so, with dark brown hair and that she looked athletic. Probably a new wrestler-in-training. Hmm. Back to monotony. 

***********************************************************************

 

A couple of weeks later, it was the end of a long day of training when Baron walked out to the parking lot. He saw someone standing near his motorcycle, closer than he was comfortable with. He frowned ominously. The woman wasn’t touching it, just looking. As he strode towards her, she looked up from the bike and at him.

“Hello again, Baron Corbin. Is this beautiful machine yours?” she asked, turning from the bike to face him.

“Yes,” he replied, wind a bit out of his sails. Val was her name, he remembered. They’d bumped into each other in the hall and he’d heard around that she was, as he’d surmised, a new hire. She’d made a splash in the indies. He’d come straight into NXT and didn’t follow the indies all that much, just the innovative stuff from Japan. He’d seen her around the center a couple of times, but paid little attention.

“I have been admiring her each day, but did not know to whom she belonged.”

“Thank you” was all Baron could think of as a response to that statement. Val nodded in acknowledgement.

“Tell me about her, if you have time?” Val asked.

Without really knowing why he did so, Baron found himself telling her about the motorcycle, where he got into motorcycles and even how much he enjoyed the feeling of being out on the road. When he finished, he realized he’d probably just spoken more words to her than he had to anyone other than one of his coaches in the last several weeks combined. She did not look bored. In fact, she appeared to be giving his words her complete attention.

“Thank you for sharing that with me,” she said. Then, she gave him a small smile. He realized that it was the first time he’d seen her smile. Odd. Most of the women he’d been around seemed to smile all the time, at everything. With several exes, he’d learned not to trust that smiling meant a woman was happy. When she smiled, her face changed. She was pretty, of course. That was kind of a prerequisite for women in the company, but she looked very different when she smiled.

He realized then that he was staring at her. Fuck. How long had they just been standing there with him looking at her, not saying anything? 

He then heard himself talking before thoughts even fully registered in his brain, “Would you like a ride some time?” His mouth snapped shut and he was aghast. That was not something he did. Period. His time on the bike was his time.

“Thank you for the offer,” Val said, “Perhaps some time.”

Baron nodded in response as he did not currently trust himself to speak.

“Have a good evening, Baron,” she said, pulling car keys out of the pocket of her jeans.

“Same to you,” he replied. 

She walked over to a little Honda parked further down the lot, got in and drove off, raising a hand to him as she passed by. He raised his in response, got on his bike and drove straight to his house, trying to puzzle out exactly what had happened.


	2. Chapter 2

Baron began to notice Val around the center after that.  Working out.  Training in the ring.  When they’d pass each other, they’d nod amicably, but they didn’t converse.  They were too busy for much chit chat.  Not that Baron was one for chit chat, in any case.  Most of the other wrestlers gave him a wide berth as he’d made it clear he was not the social type.  There were a few he tolerated, mostly because he could learn from them.  Many, he simply couldn’t stand being near.

Trainer Billy Gunn sat down at the table opposite Baron while he was eating his lunch.

“Baron, a bunch of us are taking Graves out for his birthday Wednesday night.  You should come,” Billy said.

Baron shrugged.

“I’m serious, Corbin, you can’t be so solitary.  You and Graves get along ok.  In this business, social networks matter.  Who you know, you know?  You think I got where I got based on my good looks?” Billy joked.

Baron sighed internally.  It was the same thing he’d heard from many of the coaches.

“Yeah, fine, I’ll go,” he grumbled.

“Good.  Meet at the Ten Pin Lanes at 7 on Friday,” Billy said.

“Wait, bowling?  Seriously?” Baron groaned.

“Bowling and beer, boy!” Billy near-shouted happily, “I’ll see you there.”

Wednesday came around and Baron grudgingly dressed and rode to the local bowling alley.  Hopefully, he’d bowl a few games, drink a beer and be able to beg off that he needed to go home because he had to train the next day.  He walked in the bowling alley and found the group already at a lane.  Graves was there, of course, and Billy Gunn, but so were some of the other guys, Balor, with Itami in his back pocket as always, that douche Elias Samson, Dillinger.  At least Mojo Rawley wasn’t around, Baron thought.

“Hey, Corbin,” Graves greeted him.  He then stuck his hand out, making a gimme motion at Dillinger.  “Cough it up, Dillinger, I told you he’d come.”

Tye Dillinger grumbled good-naturedly and handed Graves a $20.

“You’re betting on my attendance?” asked Baron, flatly.

“Yeah, of course.  I’ll bet on anything with good odds.  I knew you’d show up for my birthday, no matter how anti-social you tend to be,” Graves said, grinning at him.

Corbin realized it was all in good fun and not meant to be at his expense, so he calmed himself.  He nodded at Graves and made a comment about his ridiculous bowling shoes.  Graves laughed and said he needed to go get a pair, but Baron pointed out that without him bowling, the teams would be even.  He’d spectate. 

The teams were set and the bowling began.  Baron noted what beer types were being drunk and went to the bar to buy a round for everyone.  He also ordered Graves a shot of whiskey.  Not great whiskey, but decent and the best you would find at a bowling alley.  He brought a tray back to the lanes and passed out the beers, handing Graves his shot, too. 

“Thanks, Corbin,” Graves said, raising the shot glass at Baron before knocking it back.

“Happy Birthday,” Baron replied, raising his beer in Graves’s direction.

After a few more frames, much laughter and conversation, Samson made another trip to the bar for more drinks.  When he returned, he said, “You’ll never guess who’s playing pool on the other side of the bar.”

“Who is?” asked Balor.

“Val is,” Samson replied.

Balor visibly perked up.  “Really?  She’s here?  I never see her anywhere, but the center.”  Itami was visibly rolling his eyes. 

“Give it up, Finn.  She’s not interested,” Itami said.

“Hey, you don’t know that!  She could have just really been busy the seven or twelve times he’s asked her if she wanted to hang out,” Graves said laughingly.

Finn turned bright red, but he laughed, too.  “She’s just so amazing.  I mean, have you seen the tapes from even her debut match?  I’d love to train her.  So much potential.”

“Yeah, you want to train her.  Sure.  That’s what it is,” Itami said sarcastically.

“She’s gorgeous and those curves, man!  I’d train the hell out of her,” Samson broke in, sleazily. 

“Well I’m going to stroll over and say hello, in my role as a coach, of course,” said Billy Gunn grinning, “Maybe I’ll be able to talk her into joining us for a bit.  Corbin, you’re with me.”

“What? Why?” Baron questioned.

“Because I said so.  Come on,” Billy said, kicking Baron’s feet off the seat where he’d propped them up.

“Fine,” Baron grumbled. 

The two walked past the bar and into the billiard room.  Val was, as Samson had said, shooting pool at one of the tables.  Wednesday was obviously a slow night at the bowling alley and she had a table to herself.  Baron noted that she was wearing a rather low-cut black top, black jeans and black boots.  As they walked in the room, she leaned over towards them, lining up a shot that appeared to be going into the side of the table rather than one of the other balls.  Baron knew the basics of how pool worked, but he was no pro.  She hit the shot and the cue ball bounced off the bumper at the perfect angle to knock the eight ball into the opposite corner pocket.  She glanced up without standing as Billy and Baron approached her table.  Baron tried not to notice how low-cut the shirt was, especially with her bent over that way.

“Hell of a shot, Val!  You up here running game on the nice locals?” Billy asked.

Val straightened up and said, “Just practicing for the enjoyment of it, Billy.  How are you?” That was obviously meant to include both of them as she looked from Billy to Baron, nodding at him in greeting.

Baron nodded back.

“Doing great, now that you’re here!” Billy said in a faux-smooth way, leaning on the table.  Val snorted at him inelegantly, twisting the left side of her mouth into a half-smile.  Baron folded his arms across his chest and wished, briefly, that he had Billy’s easy way with people.

“Do not try the charmer routine on me.  What bring you fellows out tonight?” Val asked.

“Corey Graves’s birthday party.  He wanted to bowl,” Billy replied, “You should come say hello.”

Val looked around at all the empty pool tables.  “It does not look like I will lose my table, so sure, I will say hello.”  She placed the pool cue in the rack and motioned for Billy to lead the way.  Baron followed.  As they passed the bar, she slowed and said, “Just a moment.”

She ordered two shots of whiskey and followed Billy to the lane where the others were.

“Hey, Val” came the chorus of greetings from the bowlers.

“Hello, all,” Val replied, nodding to each.  Then, she smiled at Graves and handed him one of the shots.  She clinked her shot glass against his and said “Happy Birthday.”  They both downed their shots.

Baron heard a soft sigh from Balor as he watched Val take the shot.

“Baron bought me a birthday whiskey shot, too.  The rest of you guys are going to have to step up your game,” said Graves.

Val looked at Baron.  “Well, Baron is obviously knowledgeable of the appropriate birthday social etiquette.  Birthday boys get shots.”

Baron nodded.  Fuck.  He really could talk.  He felt like all he was doing tonight was nodding awkwardly.

Itami jumped up and said he’d make another run to the bar.  “Beer for you, Val?” he asked.  “Yes, thank you, Hideo,” she replied.

She took a seat on the end, next to Baron and across from Balor and Itami.  The conversation and bowling resumed.  Baron noticed that Balor tried showing off and monopolizing Val’s attention, but that she seemed to take no more notice of him than any of the others.  After a beer and half an hour or so of talking, Val stood up and said, “It was nice to see you all and happy birthday again, Corey, but I want to practice a bit more before I go home.”

“Don’t you want someone to play against, Val?” wheedled Billy Gunn, “Baron’s odd-man-out, so he’s not actually bowling.”

Balor gave Billy a look and Billy just grinned at him.

Baron said, “I’m not good at pool.”

“That is fine, Baron,” Val replied, “I will not pressure you to play.”

Baron could nearly feel the stares from the other men boring into him.

“I didn’t mean I wouldn’t play.  I just wanted you to know I’m not good,” he clarified. 

“It would be better than playing by myself, if it would not be a bother to you,” Val said.

“Besides, with Baron there, you won’t have to worry about any of the skeezy locals hitting on you,” Samson said, winking.

“That is not a problem,” Val replied, “The first night I came here, a man groped me.  I put him on the ground and threatened to dislocate his shoulder and elbow.”

“You did what?” asked a shocked Billy.

Val turned to look at Billy, “I taught him a lesson about appropriate and inappropriate social interactions, Coach.  I did not cause him permanent injury.  The others saw and learned, so now I have no problems here.”

Billy started laughing hard, as did the others, though Finn definitely had an odd look on his face.  Baron smirked at the mental image the story created.

“Remind me to call you the next time the rats start trying to grab me,” exclaimed Itami.  Dillinger laughed at that and set off all the others in another round of laughter.

Val made eye contact with Baron and slid her eyes towards the billiard room.  He nodded and followed her, leaving the others still doubled-over.


	3. Chapter 3

Val led Baron back to the still quite empty billiard room and took two cues from the rack.  She handed him one and set up the table.

“I will break, yes?” she asked.

Baron nodded and watched as she scattered the balls masterfully in one shot.  The seven ball went in.

“That makes me solids and you stripes,” she noted, taking her next shot.  And the next.  And the next.  Four balls in, she missed and said, “Your turn.”

Baron set up the easiest, most linear shot he could see and put the 14 in the pocket.

“And you said you were not very good, Baron.  Are you trying to game me?” Val asked.

“Lucky shot.  I really suck at this,” he replied and missed the next shot, “See?”

She beat him soundly in that game.  The two shots he’d taken were the only two he got to take.  She racked the balls again and motioned for him to break.  He tried, but despite hitting the group of balls, they didn’t scatter much.  She re-racked them and said, “It is not just about power.  It is also about angles.”

She set the cue ball up to the side and motioned for him to stand where he could reach, then she leaned over, pointing at a spot just behind and to the right of the first ball.  “This is where I want you to aim when you shoot this time.  With the power you have, hitting at this angle should cause great dispersion.”

Baron did as she said and was rewarded with a respectable scattering of the pool balls, though none went into a pocket.  Baron found himself smiling at the table.

“Can I give you another small piece of advice?” Val asked.

“Yes,” Baron replied.

Val walked over to him and motioned for him to line up a shot.  He did so.

“Do you mind if I touch you to show you?” she asked.

“No, I don’t mind,” he replied.  He was actually rather surprised that she asked, though he did appreciate it.  Most people just touched without asking and he hated that.  It didn’t bother him in the ring or when practicing because it was supposed to happen and he was ready for it.  However, wrestlers were generally a touchy group, even out of the wrestling arena.  Plus, the fans would do it, too, sometimes, like during pictures.

She put her hand on top of his left hand, which he was using to bridge, and pressed down gently.  “Lower here.  Because your hands are so large, you angle too much and are not getting a good strike on the cue ball.”  She slid down next to him and rested her other hand atop his as he gripped the end of the cue.  This position left them touching at the sides with their faces close together, both looking forward.  It also afforded him an excellent view of her cleavage, though he tried to ignore that.  He also noted that she smelled really, really good.  Not exactly perfumy, but good.  That was much harder to ignore. “Now, loosen your grip just a bit.  You want to be in control of the cue, but you should not have it in a death grip.”  Wrapping her hand around his to the point that she could, considering the size differential of their hands, she pulled back and moved him through the shot.  The nine ball they’d been lining up on went directly into the corner pocket.  “See, just like that!” she said, standing up and releasing him.

“Thank you,” Baron said.  The sudden removal of her presence at his side made him realize that he’d actually rather enjoyed it.

“Thank you, Baron.  Teaching is the best way to learn,” she replied.

“How so?” he asked.

“Well, to teach something, you have to really know what you are doing.  I find that I learn more or maybe better when I am teaching others to do something.”

He nodded.

They played a couple more games, concentrating on the actual game rather than making small talk, before she announced that she needed to go home and let him get back to the birthday party.  She walked back over to the lanes to say good bye to everyone.

“Would you like to be walked to your car?” Finn asked, “I’d be happy to if you just give me a second to slip my regular shoes on.”

“Thank you, but that is not necessary,” Val replied, “I will see you all at the center tomorrow.” 

With that, she nodded goodbye to them all and strode toward the exit.

Baron noticed all the men watching her leave.  Then, they turned back to him and started talking over each other asking about playing pool with her.

“We played pool.  She’s good.  I’m not.  That’s all,” he told them.

“Oh, ‘we played pool. That’s all’ yeah right, Corbin.  I went to get another round and saw the two of you right up close and personal with each other,” Dillinger said, smirking at him.

“You dark horse you,” said Billy, shoving him playfully with his shoulder.

“We just played pool.  She showed me how I could hold the cue better.  She likes teaching people things, that’s all” said Baron, exasperated with them.

“Hey, Finn, maybe that’s your angle.  Ask her to teach you something,” said Itami, ribbing Finn.

Baron was glad the focus was off him and he sat back to listen to the rest of the conversation until the party broke up.


	4. Chapter 4

Baron nodded to Val each time he saw her around the center and she nodded back.  He’d noticed Finn attempting to talk to her at lunch a few times, but heard some of the other guys teasing him about how little luck he was having.  After a couple of weeks, Baron found himself in the gym at the same time as Val.  He needed to do cardio.  He wasn’t a fan of cardio, but one of his biggest critiques from the coaches was his conditioning.  Baron was determined to show them that he was listening to their advice in hopes that it would get him called up to the main roster sooner rather than later.  He walked over to the treadmill next to Val and started it in warm up mode.

She took out her earbuds and greeted him.

“Hello, Baron,” she said, “How are you today?”

“Good,” he replied, “You?”

“Honestly, I am tired of treadmills.  It has to be the most boring way to work out that there is.”

“I agree, but cardio is necessary.”

“Yes, but being outdoors for running or hiking is so much more pleasant.  With this, I go and go, but I get nowhere.  I feel like a hamster on a wheel.”

“That’s understandable.”

“Do you know of any good hiking in this area?  I have been here only three months now and have been so busy with training that I have not looked into it yet.”

He told her about two trails that were relatively close and good for hiking.

“Thank you, Baron,” Val replied, putting her earbuds back in and continuing her workout.  He put his in, too, and began jogging alongside her.  It was strange to him.  They were both just working out and happened to be next to each other, but it felt somehow companionable.

When her workout was done, Val wiped the sweat from her forehead and nodded to Baron, walking toward the locker rooms that were just off the gym area.  He finished up his cardio and decided to get in a little lifting.  That was something he enjoyed, so he set up with appropriately-weighted dumbbells and began working his arms.  In his peripheral vision, he noticed Alexa Bliss and Dana Brooke go into the nearby locker room and come out a few minutes later, Dana carrying a bag and Alexa with a towel over her shoulder. They seemed to be laughing, but there was nothing unusual about that.  The two of them were like hyenas, he thought.

A few minutes after that, he nearly choked when Val strode out of the locker room completely nude and dripping water.

Very loudly, she said, “Excuse me.  Could whoever took my towel and clothing please return them to me?”

The room was completely silent and everyone was staring, but Val didn’t seem bothered by her nakedness.  Baron was frozen.  He couldn’t help but look and her body was as amazing naked as he imagined it would be.  Not that he’d been imagining her naked.  Just based on seeing her in workout clothes, one could easily extrapolate that she would be very fit, he told himself. 

At that very moment, William Regal walked in.

“What on Earth are you doing, Valkyrie?” he asked.

“Ah, Mr. Regal, apparently some of the other supposed professionals here decided to play a prank on me by taking my towel and clothing while I was showering.  I came out to ask that my items be returned.”

Baron, like the majority of the male wrestlers, had removed his shirt when he started working out.  It was relatively clean and dry.  He cleared his throat and tossed it to Val, thinking she would pull it on.  It was large enough that it should cover her at least better than the nothing she was currently using.

“Thank you, Baron,” Val said, catching the shirt.  Instead of putting it on, she began using it to towel off.  If anything, that drew more attention to the bountiful assets she had on display.

“I understand that the person or people who took my clothing did so to try to embarrass and shame me.  However, I am neither embarrassed of nor shamed by my body and the ploy has not worked,” Val stated with a voice pitched so that the whole room could hear.

William Regal closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.  “Valkyrie, please go back into the locker room now and I will have your clothing returned to you immediately.”

“Thank you, Mr. Regal.  I appreciate your assistance,” Val said, using the shirt Baron had thrown her to pat her hair.  She slung the shirt over her shoulder and turned back to Baron. 

“I will launder and return this to you soon, Baron.  Thank you again,” she said.

Baron, not trusting himself to speak, nodded.  He also looked directly at her face, the same as he would when in the locker room with men who were naked.  If she wasn’t bothered, he was determined to respect that and, after all, he’d seen people naked before.  It didn’t have to be sexual, though he was definitely struggling on that point.

Val turned and walked back into the locker room. 

Quietly, but with forceful authority, Regal told everyone that Val’s belongings were to be returned to her immediately and that stupid, childish pranks like this one were beneath them as adults and professional athletes.  He turned and walked back toward his office.  Minutes later, Baron saw one of the trainers walk into the locker room carrying the bag and towel he’d seen Dana and Alexa with previously.  He frowned and wondered why the two of them would do that to her.  Was it playful or were they trying to humiliate her?  The conversations struck back up in the gym and, from the snippets he heard, all of them centered on Val.  Valkyrie.  Regal had called her Valkyrie.  Interesting.


	5. Chapter 5

The week after, Baron ended up having lunch at the same time as Val.  He saw her sitting at a table by herself and walked over.

“Can I sit here?” he asked.

“Yes, Baron Corbin, I would be happy to have your company,” she replied, “I also need to return your shirt.  It has been laundered, but I neglected to bring it today.” 

“That’s fine.  Whenever,” he said.

The sat and ate in companionable silence.  Baron had never been a big talker.  It seemed in the interactions he’d had with Val that she wasn’t either.  That meant less pressure on him which was nice.  He noticed that she was picking at her salad.

“You going to eat that or shred it to bits?” he asked.

Val speared a huge amount of spinach and chicken and shoved it into her mouth, making a face at him.  He made a face back at her.

“I looked up trails in the area,” she said after swallowing, “I found several that look like fun to hike.  Are you interested in coming?”

“Sure, that could be fun,” he replied, surprising himself. 

“Lovely.  Hopefully, we can find a mutually-agreeable time soon,” she said.  He gave her his number and she texted him so he’d have hers, too.  They texted back and forth over the next several days, setting up a day that they would both be available and discussing which trail they should hike, settling on one with a trailhead that wasn’t too far a drive.  They planned to eat lunch together at the center the day before to check the weather and confirm any details.

Baron sat at the table waiting for Val to come from her ring training class.  Sasha and Bayley were sitting a couple of tables over and, though he wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, Baron couldn’t help but overhear their conversation.

“I’m just saying, she’s strange,” said Sasha.

“That’s not nice, Sasha,” Bayley replied.

“Not everything is nice, Bayley!  I’m just saying, Val doesn’t talk to any of us unless we ask a direct question and she’s so intense in the ring, even though it is just practice. It’s weird,” said Sasha.

“Different strokes for different folks!” exclaimed Bayley, “Besides, some people are just quiet and that’s ok!” 

Sasha shook her head and the two left to throw away their trash.

Baron found himself annoyed that the women were talking about Val, but before he could explore that further, she showed up.

“Hello, Baron,” she said as she sat down, “I was thinking, it would likely be easier to ride together to the trailhead tomorrow rather than meeting there.  Would you like me to pick you up?”

He nodded and texted his address so she could map to it.  They ate their lunches in quiet and each went back to training after.

The next morning, Baron woke and dressed for hiking.  At the appointed time, Val’s little Honda pulled into his driveway.  He had been waiting at the window, so he walked out and got in her car.  He was happy to find that it was roomier inside than he expected.  They drove to the entrance to the trail they decided on and stretched a bit in the parking lot before heading out. 

They walked in silence for a while.  Baron couldn’t remember the last time he spent time with someone who didn’t have to fill every empty second with inconsequential words.  It was a weekday and they didn’t see anyone else out hiking. 

“This is much nicer than a treadmill, is it not?” Val asked him.

“Yes, it actually feels like I’m doing something instead of just being in one place,” Baron replied, “I hate cardio.”

“That is why you get gassed so quickly in the ring,” she said.

“Hey!” he exclaimed.

“What?  It is true.  With your body and physical prowess, you should be a monster on the main roster, Baron.  You are so talented and you have a great look and ring presence.  It is just that last little bit that would take you from good to great.”

Baron felt quite flattered, but Val had said it in such a matter-of-fact way, not as though she was trying to compliment him.

“I, on the other hand, cannot seem to get any stronger, no matter what I do,” she said sadly. 

“Are you kidding?  I’ve seen you in the ring and have never seen you have difficulty picking up anyone.”

“I do not just want to be able to pick them up.  I want to be able to pick them up easily.  I want to be able to throw them hard enough that the fans can see the realism.  Besides, I see the numbers when you lift weights.  I know it is very unlikely that I would be able to lift as much as you do, just based on our size difference.  I am terribly envious, though.”

“What lifts are you doing?” he asked.

She shrugged.  “Pick up something heavy.  Put it down.  Repeat.”

He snorted.  “Yeah, but how often and what order?  What are your warm ups and cool downs like?”

“I do the order and amount that the trainers told me to,” she said, “Weight lifting is not something I am particularly comfortable with.  Before coming here, I only did body weight exercises.”

“We could help each other here.  If you can motivate me to do more cardio, I can help you lift,” he offered.

Val stopped walking and turned to face him.  “You do not have to do that, Baron.”

“I know I don’t have to.  I’d be getting your help out of it, too.”

“Alright, then.  Thank you,” she said, reaching her hand forward for a fist bump.  Baron obliged and they returned to hiking. 

They stopped for a few breaks, eating during a midday break and then turning back for the return to the car.  They talked in starts and spurts about training, wrestling and, most particularly, about books.  It turned out both were avid readers and, while they had some overlap, they also had some preferences that were very different.  They decided to lend each other some of their favorites.  Baron again found himself talking more than usual.  Val was just so easy to talk to and she was really, really smart.  He thought back to what he’d overhead Bayley and Sasha saying about her and he wondered if the other wrestlers thought the same about him. 

“So, Valkyrie?  Not Valerie?” he asked.

Now it was her turn to snort.  “Yes, Valkyrie.  Pagan parents,” she explained, “We moved here from Norway when I was a small child.  I have a brother named Wulfric.”

“He wrestle, too?” Baron asked.

“Choreographer for a burlesque troupe,” Val said.

“Huh.  Interesting,” Baron replied.

As they sat down in the car, Baron realized how sore he was.  Strange, he hadn’t felt it while they were walking as he’d been so into the conversation.

She drove back to his house and pulled into the driveway.

“Oh, here, before I forget,” she said, twisting around to reach into the back seat.  Due to the width of Baron’s shoulders, she had to brace her left arm against him as she twisted and leaning caused her chest to rub against him in a way his body liked very much.  Baron shut down that line of thought immediately. He had realized over the day that he very much enjoyed Val’s company.  Baron had never been one to have many friends, but, with Val, he saw the appeal.  She turned back around with the t-shirt he’d handed her when she’d come out of the locker room after her bag had been taken.

“Freshly laundered, as promised,” she said, handing it to him.

“You want to come in and plan work out schedules?” he asked, abruptly.  He normally didn’t have people over, but this felt right to him.

She looked a bit surprised, “Sure, that would be useful.”

She turned off the car and they walked into the house.  “You have a lovely home,” she complimented.

“Thanks,” he replied, walking through the living room towards the kitchen.

She trailed along after him, stopping to look at a large curio cabinet in his living room.  He paused, watching to see how she’d react to his collection of skulls.  Some people were weirded out by it.

“How many do you have in total?” she asked, bending over to get a better look.

“Fourteen,” he told her.

“How lovely.  Is that a Corvus skull?”

“Corvus corax,” he answered, surprised.

She straightened and moved closer to where he was standing in the kitchen doorway.  He stepped in and walked over to the kitchen table.  It obviously wasn’t used for meals.  Covering the table were various papers.  Schedules, lists, marked calendars and all other manner of organizational items.  Having it all there in one place made Baron feel in control of the craziness that was his schedule.  Everything was listed, from times that he met with each trainer for each type of class to house shows to television tapings to scheduled down time.

“This is impressive,” she said.

Baron took a brief moment to feel appreciative.  Most people did not understand him and thought his skulls and lists were weird.

“Thank you,” he said.

They looked over his schedule and hers, which she had on her phone, and they found times they could meet, sketching out a rough schedule for which times would be devoted to cardio and which to strength training. 

“I should be getting home,” Val said once they were done.  Baron nodded and walked her to the door.

“See you tomorrow, Val,” he said.

“See you tomorrow, Baron,” she replied.


	6. Chapter 6

Over the next few months, Baron and Val worked out together as planned whenever Baron wasn’t away on a tour. She devised different work outs and created play lists to try to make cardio less boring for him.  They found he was least bored doing wrestling skills drills, so she mapped out sets of them that would keep his heart rate up and ran through them with him when a ring was free.  He was nervous about that at first.  She was a woman and, though tall, was built on a smaller frame.  He soon found, though, that working with her was similar to working with any of the smaller men he had trained with.  She said she found it fun to work with him as she’d often wrestled with men in the indies. 

They were careful about who was around when they did some things.  If someone likely to complain showed up, they’d switch to making it look like they were practicing very basic holds until the person left.  He had to admit that he had fun, too.  Since she was so light, he could practice some maneuvers with her that would have been more difficult with a heavier opponent.  He held her up in a delayed vertical suplex for what seemed like ages one night, leaving them both in fits of laughter when he finally slammed her down on the mat.  One lone newbie had been at the center when that happened, but his tales of Val Gunvaldsson and Baron Corbin whooping in laughter was explained as a hallucination.  He was put under concussion protocols, just in case.

He broadened her repertoire of strength exercises and provided encouragement to try heavier weights over doing endless repetitions with lighter weights.   Each time she added weight, they fist bumped.  To a casual observer, it seemed like no big deal, but he could tell by subtle changes in her posture that she was thrilled.  Neither of them tended to show much outward emotion, but they became very good at reading each other’s small gestures.  They found more time to hike. Things were going well. 

Then, of course, people started to notice and comment on the amount of time they were spending together.  It started with Graves, who Baron liked fairly well, while he was spotting Baron during bench presses.

“So, Baron, you and Val are together a lot,” Graves said, leadingly.

“Yeah,” Baron replied, shrugging slightly and not wanting to have the conversation.

“There anything going on there?” Graves asked.

“No,” Baron replied, hoping in vain that it would end the conversation.

“Do you want there to be?” Graves inquired, grinning down at him mischievously.

Baron sighed.  “Graves, Val is my friend.  I enjoy her company.”

“So you don’t think she’s hot?” Graves asked, disbelief dripping from the words.

“Of course she is.  You know that.  You were there the day she came out of the locker room naked” Baron said, pushing the bar up smoothly.

Graves grinned again and got a faraway look on his face, “Yes, yes I was.”

“So…” Graves drawled moments later, obviously not willing to drop the subject.

“So what, Graves?” Baron asked, exasperated and sitting up and turning to face the other man, “We’re friends.  That’s all.”

Graves put his hands up and backed away, still grinning.  Baron heard him say under his breath, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks,” but chose to ignore it.

 Soon, other wrestlers began making comments.  Baron brushed them off.  He said she was a friend and left it at that.  Few had the gall to question him further when they saw the irritated look on his face.  He didn’t feel the need to justify his actions to anyone and resented the fact that they thought they had any right to ask him about his life.  Eventually, he just stared down whoever spoke about it, not deigning to answer them.  If someone asked when they were together, one or the other would make a deliberate, cutting remark and they’d fist bump, smirking at each other.

Baron was sitting backstage at Takeover waiting for his match.  When Val approached, he pulled out his earbuds.

“Are you ready for your match?” she asked.

He nodded and she reached out and took his hands, guiding his earbuds back to his ears.  Before letting go so he could fit them back in, she said, “I will listen for your call to gorilla. You get in the zone.”  Baron leaned back, closing his eyes and letting his mind get ready for the match.  He felt Val sit next to him on the floor, not touching, but close enough that he knew she was there.  An indeterminate amount of time later, Baron felt a hand touch his upper arm.  

Val tipped her head towards the staging area and said, “It is time.” 

She reached out a hand to take his phone so he could walk straight over without stopping to put it away.  He was exactly where he needed to be mentally for this match.  He was going to show how ready he was and he knew the powers-that-be were watching.  The match against Rhyno was one of his best yet.  He felt good and everything came off exactly as expected. 

When he walked backstage, everyone was congratulating him, telling him what a good match it had been.  Val was standing at the back of the crowd, still holding his phone.  Once the congratulations died down, he walked to her. 

“Great match, Baron,” she said, holding out her fist for their customary fist bump.

He reached out and pulled her into a quick hug.  “Thank you, Val.  I think all the cardio really helped.”  She favored him with one of her rare smiles. 

At the end of the night, everyone decided to go out to a local club to celebrate the success of the event.  Remembering what he’d been told time and again, Baron decided to make an appearance, though clubs were definitely not his thing.  Val said she was going, too and would meet him there.  Nearly all the talent showed up and Baron was glad he’d decided to make the appearance.

He found a seat at a large table full of wrestlers near the back and started counting the minutes until it would be socially acceptable for him to leave.  When he saw Val walk in, he waived her over to sit next to him.  Val went first to the bar and came to the table carrying a beer in each hand.  She gave one to Baron and clinked hers with his saying, “Congratulations on a stellar match tonight.”  They drank to it and she shrugged off her jacket and hung it on the chair.  She was wearing black jeans and a dark purple shirt with a deep v-neck.  The wrestlers were boisterous and excited and dancing wildly.  Baron saw, much to his disgust, that Mojo Rawley was holding court on the dance floor.  He also noticed Balor dancing very close with one of the new recruits. Payton? Paxton?  Ashley?  Something like that.  He was glad to see that since it probably meant the man would stop asking Val out.  Not that he cared who asked her out.  That was her business, not his.  She’d just mentioned to him that it was annoying, that was all. 

“Come dance with us, Val!” said Bayley, laughing and trying to pull Val out onto the dance floor.

“No, no thank you, Bayley.  You go have fun, though,” said Val, kindly.  Bayley laughed and danced away.  Baron had noticed that Val seemed to have a bit of a soft spot for the happy woman.

“You don’t dance?” Baron asked her. 

“No, it is not a preferred activity of mine.”

Baron nodded.  He completely understood that, feeling like a lumbering giant the few times he’d attempted it himself.  His mom made him learn to waltz when he was a kid, but that was very different from club dancing.  Val was scanning the crowd and Sami Zayn who was sitting next to them, teasingly said, “Uh, oh!  Val’s on the hunt tonight.”

“Be quiet, Sami,” said Val, good-naturedly, “And so what if I am?”

Baron looked at her closely as she sipped her drink.

“I’ve never seen anyone with your luck, Val. Have you ever been turned down?” Zayn asked.

“That would be very unlikely,” she replied, blandly “Excuse me a moment.”

Val walked over to a group of attractive women who were standing around a tall table closer to the dance floor.

“Ha!  Watch this, Baron,” Zayn said to him, “I’ve seen her do this when we’d all go out after an indie show.”

Baron watched as Val spoke to the group and seemed to be immediately accepted into it.  Soon, one woman in particular appeared to be hanging on Val’s every word.  Baron saw that Val touched the woman’s hand and looked directly into her eyes as she spoke.  Slowly, the casual touches became caresses and then, suddenly, the woman leaned forward and kissed Val.  Baron saw Val whisper something and the woman nodded.  Val held up one finger and walked back over to their table.  She winked at Zayn.  He and several other wrestlers at the table were looking at her in what seemed to be awe.

“Even an ice queen enjoys a warm bed occasionally,” she said to Zayn.

“Oh, shit, you know about that?” he asked as his face turned red.

“Baron, could you hand me my jacket, please?” she asked, ignoring Zayn.

 “I didn’t realize you liked women,” Baron said, handing her jacket over the table.

“Oh, no,” said Zayn, burying his head in his arms on the table, “Now we get the speech.”

“You do not get the speech because Baron spoke in a polite and respectful manner,” Val said to him.  Looking back at Baron, she said, “I have a strict non-discrimination policy.  Gender, race, sex, et cetera, do not figure in for me when choosing sexual partners.”

Baron wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that, so he nodded.

Zayn asked, “How come I’ve only ever seen you pick up women, then, Val?”

Val looked at him and then leaned over the table towards Baron.  She rested her elbow in the middle of the table and said to him, “Baron, would you arm wrestle me?”

“What?” he snorted at the non-sequitur. 

“Please.  I am making a point for Sami.”

“But I’ll win.”

“Yes, you will, but bear with me.”

Baron shrugged and took her hand.  “On three,” she said, “One, two, three.”

He felt her try to move his arm and easily put the back of her hand on the table, even with the extra leverage she had from standing.

She looked over at Sami.  “That is why.”

Sami looked very confused.  “You pick up women because Corbin can beat you at arm wrestling?”

Val shook her head at him.  At that moment, the woman Val had been talking to walked up, wrapped her arm around Val’s waist and murmured something into her ear.  Val picked up her jacket from where she’d set it on the table and turned to the woman, smiling.

“Have a good night, boys,” she said over her shoulder as she left.

Sami looked at Baron.  “Do you have any idea what that was all about?” he asked.

Baron had worked it out as soon as she said she knew he’d beat her at arm wrestling and was surprised Zayn didn’t see it.

“If she went home with a man, he’d probably be stronger.  Safer to go home with a woman,” he said.

“Huh,” said Zayn, “Never thought of it that way.”

“Ice queen?” Baron said questioningly.

Sami looked embarrassed.  “Um, unflattering nick name from some of the boys who couldn’t handle consistently being turned down by her.”

“You two go way back?” Baron asked.

“About five years, I guess.  I was there when she debuted.  Have you ever seen the footage of the time she dressed up in my gear?”

“She what?”

“Oh, man, you’ve gotta see this,” said Zayn, getting out his phone and navigating to YouTube.

He started up a video and handed the phone to Baron.  In the ring were two El Genericos wearing the same wrestling gear, masks and Ole t-shirts.  One was a touch taller and heavier and the other had a suspiciously curvy rear end and no beard.  Each time the larger Generico moved, the other mirrored him.  Generico started showing signs of annoyance and locked up with the other version of himself.  They wrestled for a bit when they were interrupted by some other tag team Baron had never heard of.  Then, the two Genericos started working together.  It was an amazing sight.  Baron hadn’t realized how much Zayn had been holding back and knowing that the other Generico was Val made it doubly amazing.  Generico did a suicide dive onto the other team as they tried to regroup outside the ring and then, when they stood up, Val-Generico ran down the apron, jumped at the side of the ring post, pushed off it and flipped over backwards onto the other team.  Baron had never seen anything like it.  The woman had no fear.  The match ended with dual 450 splashes from the two Genericos onto their prone opponents.  That meant Val could do a 450 splash.  He’d seen her do some basic top rope stuff, but the sort of high flying in this match was over the top.

Zayn saw that the video had ended and took his phone back.  “It’s great, right?  We worked on those spots for weeks and the match was spectacular.  I think it is what got her noticed.  She got the call from WWE not long after.”

“That’s really impressive,” Baron said.

“Hadn’t she told you about it?  I mean, not to get in your business, but I’ve never seen her as relaxed around anyone as she is with you.”

Baron filed that away for future processing and shrugged.  “We mostly talk about training in the present.  She wants to be stronger, so I’ve been helping her with weights.”

Suddenly, Baron thought of a logistical question, “Um, so, in that outfit, I mean, how…” he trailed off, gesturing at his chest.

“Oh, ah, I wondered about that, too, actually.  She showed up like that and it didn’t seem like, you know, appropriate to ask,” Zayn replied.

Baron cleared his throat. “I’m heading out,” he said, nodding to Zayn.  Zayn raised his drink, which looked more like straight orange juice than a screwdriver, to Baron and Baron put a sneer on his face and walked out of the club, deftly side-stepping the people, wrestlers and not, who dared to try to touch him.  The sneer seemed to make the majority think twice.

When he got home, he laid in bed and turned on his laptop.  He searched Val’s name online and saw lots of pictures obviously taken by fans when she was wrestling and some promotional shots.  There weren’t any pictures of her in lingerie or swimsuits like there were for a lot of the female wrestlers.  Even her ring gear, though it certainly showed her body, was pretty full coverage in comparison to others he’d seen.  Next, Baron searched YouTube for Val’s matches.  Soon, he saw what all the fuss was about.  In the earliest matches he found, she was obviously quite green, but the ability was there.  By the end of the five years she was in the indies, she had progressed so much.  He found all different kinds of matches, some against women, others against men. 

He was very surprised to see a video for a hardcore match.  It was at an outdoor event at a place that didn’t look much bigger than his back yard.  This big woman was in the ring with Val.  They were hitting each other in the head with light tubes and were those brass knuckles?  There was what looked like a piece of plywood with razor wire stuck to it in the corner.  He was nearly sick when he saw her get close to it, but the other woman was the one who actually took the bump into it.  Val stood over her menacingly as she struggled to get off it.  Once the woman recovered, she put Val through a table, pinning her.  Wait, were those cinderblocks under the table?  Val’s face was a bloody mess, but he knew her well enough to see from her body language that she was enjoying it. The look on her face was feral.  

Baron was pretty horrified, but he was even more horrified to realize how turned on he was from watching that match.  Not that he was averse to violence, he enjoyed it.  The feeling of hitting someone, making sure they knew their place, standing dominantly over them.  All hail wasn’t just a hash tag.  But the fact that seeing his friend hurt and bleeding, and causing someone else to be hurt and bleeding, was arousing him felt strange.  His mind wandered to what she was probably doing at that moment and he felt himself get rock hard.  Quickly, almost clinically, he brought himself off, YouTube video paused on Val’s vicious, blood-covered face.  Afterwards, he lay back, sweating and, though he was no longer throbbing with need, he was not really sated either.


	7. Chapter 7

The next day, Baron met up with Val for a strength-training session.  They’d found coming in early to be the most conducive to having time for their extra practice.  He wasn’t sure what to say to her.  He’d found out so much last night, but didn’t know what, if anything, that knowledge changed.  When she arrived, they got started like any other day.  He thought he was doing a good job of being normal when suddenly, Val said, “Did last night make you uncomfortable?”

“Last night? What?” he asked unconvincingly.  Val sat up on the bench and motioned for Baron to sit next to her.

“Did me taking that woman home make things awkward for you, being my friend?  I know some people are not okay with women having sex with other women.”

“No, I’m not not okay with that.  It’s cool if you’re happy with it,” he said, honestly.

“May I ask you a personal question, Baron?”

He nodded.

“You have never referenced a girlfriend, even a past one and I have never seen you go out to meet someone or pick up a girl when we all go out.  Do you prefer men?”

“No, I like women.  I just have to focus on my career now.  I don’t have time for all that.  It is too much effort that could be better spent on something else.”

“The next time we go out, I will bring back an extra for you,” Val told him. 

Baron barked a short laugh, “Sure, whatever.”

“Did anything interesting happen after I left?”

“Um, after you left, Zayn showed me the time you dressed up as him and then I looked up some of your matches online later.  I don’t understand why, if you can do some of the things I saw you do in those matches, you don’t do them here.”

“I was asked not to.  When I signed my contract, I was told over and over that this is not the indies and that I needed to only do what the trainers told me to for at least my first year in developmental.  I have to learn the WWE style and unlearn some of the indie stuff.”

“What about the other match?  The hardcore one?”

Val’s eyes went unfocused and she got a dreamy look on her face.

“That was an amazing night.  I had never done anything like it before and I never will again, but it was a fascinating experience.”

“That woman was breaking light tubes over your head.  You threw her into razor wire and your face was covered in blood.”

“Yes,” Val said, simply, “What is making you so uncomfortable about that match, Baron?”

“I don’t know.  Nothing.  Everything,” he replied, “How did you end up doing that?”

“Actually, I was just there to watch and say hello to some people I had worked with previously.  Then, the woman who was supposed to be in the match pulled out of it at the last minute.  I owed Callihan a favor, so, when he asked if I could make a one-time-only appearance, I agreed.  That match was the result.  It was exhilarating, but painful and dangerous.  I was pulling bits of glass out of my hair for weeks afterwards.”

Val reached out and rested her hand on Baron’s shoulder.  “Have I answered your questions about it?”

He shook his head.  “You looked happy, though.”

“I was happy doing that match.  It was thrilling.  It is not something I can explain to you, Baron, and you must not even consider having a match like that yourself.  They can be career-ending and it is not worth it.  That is what I realized and why I never let myself be booked in another one.”

“I liked it, Val.  I really, really liked it.  I shouldn’t like seeing you get hurt,” Baron admitted through gritted teeth.

“Is that all this is?  Shall I damn you for being human, Baron?  There is a reason that type of thing is so popular.  It appeals to something deep within most human beings.  That is nothing to feel guilty about.  We crave violence like we crave sex.  It is part of the human condition.  Now, if you are done with self-flagellation, I have some news to share with you.”

“What is it?” he asked.  He still wasn’t completely comfortable with the previous topic, but he was ready to move on to something else.

“If everything goes according to the current plans, I get to work the tour after the one you are about to go on!” she told him.

Baron wrapped his arm around her and pulled her into a side hug on the bench.  “That’s really great, Val, I’m happy for you.”

“I have been getting so impatient and it has been such a long wait.  It is not a formal debut yet, of course, just some jobbing, but I think it is a positive sign.”

“It is,” he told her, “Plus that tour won’t be nearly as boring as usual since you’ll be around.”

Baron was assigned to most of the tours and would be gone for the next one the following week.  He had given Val a spare key to his house and asked that she check in mid-week just to make sure everything was ok.  He was pleased that he finally had someone he trusted to check on the place.  They kept in close contact via text and he sent pictures of the different places that he wrestled.

Upon returning from the tour, Baron and Graves went out with to celebrate its success and tell her all about how it had gone.  They were there for a few hours, laughing and telling stories and getting progressively looser.  At the end of the night, Baron noticed that there was a specific look on Val’s face as she scanned the room. 

“You’ve got your predatory face on,” he observed.

“Deciding whether there are any worthwhile prospects,” she replied.

Graves overheard them and said, “Seriously?  You two just talk about this?”

Val and Baron looked at him in confusion.

“Why would we not?” Val asked.

Baron shrugged, “All of you talk shit about picking up girls whenever I’ve gone out with you.  Hell, I’ve seen you guys pick up girls together and then go back to the hotel as a group.”

“Yeah, but, this is different,” Graves began, “I mean, Val’s a girl.”

Val exaggeratedly dropped her mouth open, then used her hands to ostentatiously feel herself up on the outside of her shirt, “Holy shit, Corey, I think you might be right!”

Baron chuckled and took another drink of his beer.

Graves watched the movement of Val’s hands with obvious interest.  When she stopped, he pouted at her and she laughed.

“In any case, no one here interests me,” she said.  She turned towards Baron in a way that Graves couldn’t see her face, which was mischievous.  She cut her eyes towards Graves and wiggled her eyebrows.  As clearly as if she’d said the words out loud, Baron knew she was indicating that it would be fun to mess with Graves.  He agreed and quirked the left side of his mouth infinitesimally. 

“Well, if you’re hard up, you know you can always count on me, as your friend,” Baron said.

Val put her hand up and they fist bumped.  “Thank you, Baron, you are a good friend” she said.

Graves looked at the two of them in shock.  “Baron, you can’t just say something like that to a woman.  Val, you should have slapped him for that, not encouraged it.”

“Why?” asked Val, curiously.  Baron leaned forward to hear the answer, too.

“Because it just isn’t right!” exclaimed Graves, “You two are so weird.”

Val and Baron shrugged at Graves and each other in tandem.

Looking at Baron, Val said, “Well, I thought it was a nice, friendly gesture.”

“I thought so, too,” he replied.

Graves shook his head.  “Baron, you’re my friend, but you’ve never offered to fuck me.”

“If we both liked men and were in this situation, I would have said the same to you,” Baron told him.

Val nodded and said, “Of course he would.  Friends help each other.”

Graves nearly screamed in frustration at the purposive obtuseness of the pair and stalked off to the bar, muttering.

“How fun!” Val said when he was out of ear shot.

Baron nodded and they looked at each other with twin evil smiles.

Graves came back with fresh drinks for the three of them.

“You know, Val,” Baron said, “If Graves is thinking about fucking me, perhaps he’s the one who is hard up.”

“Hmm… maybe that is it.  He was looking at my breasts.  If he and I were closer, I would offer.  Do you think I should?” she asked.

At that moment, Baron honestly thought Corey Graves’s eyes were going to pop out of his head.

“I don’t think his girlfriend would like that,” Baron told her.

 “Thank you for the drink, Corey,” said Val, “Baron and I think you must be hard up and that is why you seem so frustrated.  If you did not have a girlfriend, I would offer to help you out.  Baron thinks she would not like that, though, so I will not.  Do not worry. You are home from the tour now and surely, she will be thrilled to see you.”  Val reached over and patted Graves’s hand in a ‘there, there’ sort of way.

Baron watched as Graves’s face showed a riot of shifting emotions.  It was so amusing to wind him up this way.  Baron had never seen him completely taken aback to the point that he didn’t have a quip at hand.  It was like he couldn’t decide whether to stalk off or be angry or laugh or throw a punch.  Finally, he just buried his face in his hands.

From behind his hands, Graves repeated, “You two are so weird.  So fucking weird.”


	8. Chapter 8

The next month, they were getting on the bus that would take the talent around the multi-town loop for this tour.

Baron and Val sat together on the bus, listening to music or reading.  On one particularly late night long stretch, pretty much everyone was asleep.  The seats reclined, so it wasn’t that uncomfortable.  Val was asleep and her head lolled over on Baron’s shoulder.  He carefully sat still so he wouldn’t disturb her.  She shifted towards him and snuggled into his chest.  He wrapped his arm around her and heard her murmur his name in her sleep.  He felt an almost painful jolt in his chest.  He leaned down slightly and pressed a kiss on the top of her head, breathing in the smell of her.  Across the aisle, Carmella was curled up on Big Cass.  Cass looked over at him and then down at the women.  He smiled at Baron and the smile was one of a contented man to another contented man.  Baron felt uncomfortable and closed his eyes.

What felt like moments later, Baron awoke to giggling.  Sasha and Bayley were sitting directly in front of him and Val and they were turned completely around leaning over the backs of their seats staring.  Sasha had her phone out and appeared to be taking pictures.  Baron sat up, causing Val to wake and move away from him. 

“What are you doing?” he asked, menacingly. 

“Aww, you looked so cute!  We just had to get a few pictures!  Now you’ve gone and spoiled it by waking up,” said Bayley. 

“Enough,” said Val, “I believe we have finally made it to the hotel.” 

Indeed, the bus had stopped and everyone was getting their stuff.  They all trouped in, got their key cards and went to their rooms to pass back out.  Yawning, Val said she would see him in the morning.

One day about half way through the tour, Val seemed antsy.  It was contagious and Baron felt his anxiety heighten, too.  By mid-day, they were both snapping at anyone who came near them and, as if by mutual agreement, didn’t speak to each other. 

Baron was across the catering room at the arena when he saw Zayn edge up to Val and say something.  She looked at him with murder in her eyes and then seemed to stop and consider.  She looked Zayn up and down overtly and said something back with a sly look on her face.  Zayn backed away slowly waving his arms in front of him and shaking his head.  He appeared to be repeating the word “No” over and over.  Baron walked over with small plates for himself and Val.

“What was that about?” he asked.

“Sami pointed out that I was in a bad mood and suggested that it might have been too long since my bed was warmed,” she replied, “I wanted him to go away, so I asked if he was making me an offer.”  Val smirked and Baron quirked an eyebrow at her. 

“Isn’t he in a relationship?”

“Yes.  That is why I knew it would make him back off,” she said, simply. 

“Do you want to go out with me tonight after the show?” Val asked him a few moments later.

Baron choked on the bite he had just taken of his sandwich.  Coughing, and thinking for a brief moment that she was asking him out, he said, “What?”

“Do you want to go out with me tonight to a bar or club or something?” she repeated, “Much as I hate to admit it, Sami is probably right.  I have not picked up in quite a while and that could be the reason for my mood.”

“I’ll go,” Baron said, nodding.

Val gave him a small smile and ate her sandwich.

Val’s match went okay, though not great.  Baron’s actually went poorly.  He wasn’t sure what the issue was, but he and Mojo Rawley just couldn’t seem to get on the same page.  Nothing was working and they had no ring chemistry that night.  The crowd let them know about it, too.  Baron hated working with Rawley in any case. The man was all bluster and narcissism. 

After the match and after exchanging heated words with Rawley, Baron walked to the back of the arena, frustrated.  Some of the other wrestlers had gotten between the two of them to keep them from a fist fight, though it had been a near thing.  Val approached him.

“Everyone has a bad night every so often, even Baron Corbin,” she said.

“Fuck off,” he snapped at her, pacing.  He regretted it immediately.

With a look of sympathy on her face, Val reached out and rubbed his shoulder.  Reflexively, he jerked away. 

“Go shower and then go back to the hotel, Baron,” Val said, looking at him sadly, “You will feel better in the morning.”

“I said we’d go out,” Baron said tightly.  He felt full of rage and without an outlet for it.  A part of him felt terrible for causing that sad look on her face, but the rest of him was just too angry to care.  He wanted to hit something really, really hard.  Preferably Rawley.

“If you want,” Val replied, mildly, “Either way, you need to go shower.”

Baron grunted and walked to the locker room.  By the end of his shower, he felt moderately more in control.  He dressed and walked out to find Val.  They ended up at some random club.  Baron found a couple of chairs in a back corner with a tiny table on wheels in front of it.  He and Val sat.  In addition to his usual beer, he ordered tequila shots and told the barmaid to keep them coming.  In quick succession, he had three.  Val had one, not even trying to keep pace with him.  Graves walked over and pulled up a chair next to him.

“Bad mood?” he asked.  Baron threw him a hateful look and knocked back more tequila.

“Go away, Graves,” Baron growled.

“Nah, think I’ll stay right here,” Graves said with a grin, helping himself to a shot.

“Whatever,” Baron replied, focusing on getting smashed as quickly as possible.  It wasn’t something he did often, but when this mood came over him, the story was different.  A few minutes later, he noticed that Val was gone.

“Where’d Val go?” he asked Graves as he felt the warm rush of the alcohol hit him.

Graves gestured with his beer bottle.  Across the dance floor, Val stood talking to two beautiful women in very short dresses.

“Is she picking up TWO tonight?” Graves said in surprised admiration as Val wrapped one well-muscled arm around the waist of each woman and walked them towards the corner Baron had claimed.

Val had a serious look on her face.  Baron suddenly had a strong memory of a cat he’d had when he was much younger.  It had been a street cat, but he’d eventually made friends with it by feeding it.  It started bringing him wounded or dead prey animals.  Confused, he’d looked up information about cat behaviors and found that the cat was trying to take care of him, teach him to hunt, so he could feed himself, like it would with a kitten.  He couldn’t place why that memory had come upon him so strongly this many years later.

Val smiled darkly, “Hey, Baron, this is Sunny,” she said, jerking her head towards the blonde woman on her left.  The woman giggled and wiggled her fingers at him.  “And this is Bunny,” Val said, leaning her head towards the brunette on her right.  The second woman smiled at him and licked her lips.  “Girls, this is my best friend, Baron.”

“Nice to meet you,” said Sunny, smiling brightly at him.

“Very nice,” agreed Bunny, raking her eyes from his feet up to his face.

Sunny and Bunny left Val’s arms and perched on each of Baron’s knees.  He was too surprised and confused to react.

“Val tells us you’ve had a bad night,” said Bunny.

“We’d like to make it better,” coaxed Sunny.

Then, they leaned forward, one kissing his mouth (Bunny? He thought?) and the other nibbling his neck and ear.  After a minute or two, they switched places.  Val had resumed her seat next to him and was watching.  Baron turned his head and made eye contact with her.  She raised her shot glass to him.

“Seriously?” he heard Graves whine.

Baron decided there was no harm in indulging in kissing a couple of beautiful women for a few minutes so he let them continue.   Soon, he would send them on their way he told himself.  He was kissing Sunny on his left knee when he realized that Bunny, on his right knee, was no longer kissing his neck.  He rolled his eyes to the right and found that she was leaned over kissing Val.  Sunny giggled and moved to his neck as though she was letting him get a better view of the other two women.  He watched as Val slid her hand up Bunny’s jaw, turning her head in such a way that Val was in complete control of the kiss. 

Val broke the kiss with Bunny and arched her neck, giving the other woman access to her throat.  Bunny nipped her slightly and Val made a noise that Baron found very interesting.  When Val met his eyes, he could see that they were so dilated they looked black rather than brown.

“Baron, my friend, do you not have a private hotel room?” Val asked.

“Yes,” he replied.

“Shall we go there now?”

“Yes,” he found himself saying.  This was very unlike him, but he found that he could not resist this temptation.  Was it his mood, the alcohol, the women or Val or some combination?  He didn’t know and decided not to think too hard about it as Sunny licked the hollow of his collarbone.  Val stood, helping Bunny and Sunny off Baron’s lap.  He stood and the two women tucked themselves under each of his arms with their arms around his waist.

“Later, Graves,” he said.  Graves was shaking his head and laughing, but Baron didn’t particularly care.

Val led the way to the car they had rented for the evening.  Bunny got in the back seat, pulling Baron with her and Sunny got in behind him.  They were running their hands over his chest under his shirt and kissing each other.  Val smirked into the rear view mirror at his face as he watched them.

They made it to the hotel and up to his room.  It had two beds, but, since he was main event for NXT, he didn’t have to share.  Bunny pushed him back onto one of the beds.  She reached behind herself and pulled the zipper of her dress, letting it drop to pool at her feet.  He stared her bra-and-panty-clad body with a slight buzzing noise echoing about his head.  He looked over at the other bed and found that while he’d been distracted, somehow both Sunny and Val had managed to remove the majority of their clothing.  Val had Sunny pinned flat on her back on the bed and was kissing her while stroking her breast.

Bunny climbed atop him and tugged off his shirt.  She kissed his lips, then down his throat to his chest.  He found himself moaning softly as she flicked her tongue into his belly button and began unbuttoning his pants.  He lifted his hips so she could pull them and his boxers completely off.  Wait, when had his shoes come off? he wondered briefly.  Before he could give that any more thought, Bunny’s mouth engulfed his erect penis.  He watched her suck him and when she looked up and saw him watching her so raptly, she smiled around his dick. 

He glanced over at the other bed again and saw that Val was licking Sunny’s pussy.  Baron thought he was going to orgasm immediately.  Sunny was writhing and moaning under Val’s tongue.  Val seemed to realize he was watching.  She pushed down Sunny’s leg that was blocking his view and pulled her other leg around Val’s neck, tilting the woman’s pelvis so that Baron had a better view of exactly what she was doing.  The new angle and pressure on her clit sent Sunny quickly over the edge into orgasm and Baron knew his was not far behind.  He petted the hair back from Bunny’s face and said, “I’m about to…” but before he could finish the thought, Bunny sucked him hard and deep into her throat.  He came with a quiet cry and she swallowed it all.  He lay back, relaxed and spent and feeling like he’d just touched heaven.

“I think Baron and Sunny will need a few minutes to recover,” he heard Val say, seductively, “Why do you not come over here with me, Bunny?”

He felt Bunny leave the bed and turned his head to see her move in front of Val.  Sunny had rolled to her side and was still shivering with aftershocks of her orgasm.  Val laid Bunny down in front of her, kissing her mouth.  The mouth that had just been around his dick, thought Baron.  With that thought, he felt said dick stir, though there was no way he could get another erection immediately.  He turned fully onto his side to have a better view of what was happening on the other bed.

Val continued kissing Bunny, licking her way down the other woman’s body.  Val removed Bunny’s bra and immediately began kissing and sucking her breasts.  While doing so, she hooked a finger in Bunny’s panties and pulled them down.  Bunny wiggled her legs to help.  Val sat up and grabbed one of Bunny’s ankles.  She kissed from her ankle up past her knee and thigh, when she got to Bunny’s pussy, she exhaled, blowing warm air gently over it but not touching.  Bunny whined.  Val smiled a predatory smile and began kissing the back of Bunny’s other knee, moving up the other thigh.  This time, when she got to Bunny’s pussy she brought up her hand and slipped a finger in.

“Already so wet.  I think you really enjoyed sucking Baron’s cock,” Val said.  It was the single dirtiest, most erotic sentence Baron thought he’d ever heard.  He felt his dick trying to harden again already. 

“Yes,” gasped Bunny, “Now please lick me!”

Val chuckled darkly and gave one long lick to Bunny’s pussy, from bottom to top.

“Like that?” she asked in a mockingly innocent voice.

“Please,” said Bunny who appeared to be nearly sobbing with need.

“Beg,” Val growled.

“Please, please, please,” Bunny begged, “I need it so bad.”

Val lowered her head and obliged, licking and sucking.  She used one hand to spread Bunny’s vaginal lips open wide and sucked two fingers on her other hand before pushing them inside.  She set a rhythm sucking Bunny’s clitoris in time with the thrusts of her fingers.  A recovered Sunny was sucking her nipples, alternating from one to the other.  Before very long, Bunny was thrusting her hips forward against Val’s lips and screaming her orgasm.

Val sat up, smiling at Baron and licking her lips.

“I told you I’d bring you extra next time,” she said.

He just shook his head and watched as Sunny sat up and began kissing the back of Val’s neck, dragging the fingers of one hand lightly down Val’s spine and reaching around to cup Val’s breast with the other hand.

“Your turn,” said Sunny.

Now Val laid back on the bed, arms around each woman, one on her left and the other on her right.  They kissed her gently, reverently, at first.  It seemed to Baron that they were literally trying to touch their lips to every inch of Val’s gorgeous body.  He’d seen her naked before, but not wanton like this.  He was afraid that if he moved he would wake up.  Sunny and Bunny had spread Val’s legs wide and were both licking her pussy together.  Baron realized he was hard again and stroked himself absently, too enthralled at the scene before him to pay much mind.  Bunny captured Val’s clit in her mouth and Sunny moved up to kiss her breasts.

Val looked over at Baron and smiled conspiratorially.  “Sunny, would you go over and fuck Baron, please?” she asked, her voice catching as Bunny slipped two fingers into her.

Baron’s dick was fully erect now.  Sunny got up and came over to him.  She kissed him and he could taste what had to be Val on her lips.  “From behind so Val can watch better?” she suggested.

Baron was so far gone with lust that he couldn’t think straight.  Sunny positioned herself on all fours in front of him.  He pushed into her and found her soaking wet and ready for him.  He put his hands on her hips and began thrusting into her slowly, relishing the velvety sensation around his dick.  Why had he been so reluctant? he wondered hazily.

When he looked over at the other bed again, he saw that Bunny had Val writhing, her hands grasping at the sheets.  Suddenly, he felt Sunny’s pussy tighten and pulse around him and realized that he’d fucked her into an orgasm.  She collapsed and he pulled out of her.  She shuddered for a moment and then sat up, launching herself towards his mouth.  She kissed him fiercely, but then rolled away.  She touched Bunny on the shoulder and the dark-haired woman stopped what she was doing to look at her.

“You’ve got to try him,” Sunny said to her, as though offering to share a bite of her dessert, “Let me make Val come again.  You can come again, can’t you, Val?”

Val nodded, one arm thrown over her eyes.  Baron wondered how many orgasms she had had.

Sunny took Bunny’s place and Bunny came to stand in front of him.  At some point, he’d apparently sat completely up with his feet on the floor between the beds.  He didn’t remember doing it.  “I was imagining how good this would feel inside me while I was sucking it earlier,” she said, stroking his dick.  He gathered her to him and helped her wrap her legs around his waist, fitting himself inside her pussy.

“How’s that?” he asked, confidently.  Baron was quite aware that he was built to please with above average length and girth.

“Wonderful,” Bunny sighed, rocking against him.  He started thrusting up into her, holding her hips and helping her ride him.  He kissed her and tasted Val again. 

As he was sucking Bunny’s nipple and she was bouncing on his dick, he again made eye contact with Val.  Well, he thought he did.  She was so close to orgasm that he wasn’t sure if she was actually seeing him or not.  Bunny was moaning and tightening around him, so he knew she wasn’t going to hold on much longer.  He felt himself slipping over the edge, but he’d be damned if he didn’t hold out until after Bunny’s orgasm.  He heard the most delicious moans coming from Val, crescendo-ing into a keening cry at whatever Sunny was doing and she came hard.  Then, Bunny was coming and soon, so was he.

 


	9. Chapter 9

Baron awoke, bleary-eyed to an empty room.  He could hear the shower running.  He lay still on the bed and thought about the night before.  He was feeling a lot of different emotions and wasn’t sure what to do or say to Val.  Though they hadn’t touched each other, they’d shared a very intimate sexual experience and he was concerned about how it might affect their friendship.  As he pondered that, the shower turned off and Val, wrapped in a white towel, walked out of the bathroom.  When she saw that he was awake, she smiled and sat down on the bed next to him.

“You are finally awake, I see.  You were dead to the world when Sunny and Bunny left.  They said to say thank you for them.”

“Um, about that, last night, are we good?” he asked.

“What do you mean?  Why would we not be?  Did you not have a good time?” Val asked him anxiously.

“No!  Yes!  I mean, it was great.  I just meant, does it change things?”

“I meant it when I called you my best friend last night, Baron.  Are you asking me this because it has changed things for you?  Should I not have brought them to you?  I just wanted to make you feel better after you had such an awful day.  Are you mad at me?”

Val looked so forlorn that Baron sat up and pulled her to him.  “No, I’m not mad.  I just really like what we have, our friendship.  I wouldn’t want you to feel weird around me now.”

Val leaned her head on his shoulder.  “I feel closer to you now, if anything.  Is that not how it usually is for you?”

“How what usually is?”

“After you share women with a friend.”

“I wouldn’t know,” he said, “I’ve never done that before.”

“Really?  You did so well that I assumed you had.”

“I did well?” he sputtered.

Val sat up and looked at him.  “Of course you did.  You were patient, attentive and made sure your partners were satisfied sexually.”

“Oh,” he said.

Val laughed.  “You are blushing.” 

“I am not,” he stated.

“Yes, you are,” she said, “Now go take a shower.  We have to be on the bus soon.”

Val stood up, dropping her towel and picking up her discarded clothing from the night before.  Baron realized he was naked and would have to walk past her to get to the bathroom.  Fuck it, he thought.  She’d seen everything the night before anyhow.  He stood up and walked towards the bathroom.

“Oh, by the way, that idiot Mojo Rawley and Elias Samson happened to be walking by this morning as I was seeing the girls out.  They are both pretty juvenile, so it is possible they will have something they believe is witty to say,” Val told him, putting on her shoes.

“Whatever,” Baron said.  He didn’t particularly care what anyone said, though he did appreciate the head’s up.

“Meet you at the bus,” Val told him, leaving the room as he turned on the shower.

True to her word, throughout the day Val treated Baron exactly the same as she had before.  He was happy about that.  Things really weren’t awkward as he feared.  Perhaps she touched him a little more readily or smiled a bit more, but those were positive changes in his eyes.

Some of the men had cornered him in the locker room when he was talking to Corey Graves at the evening’s event.

“Corbin, did you really go back to the hotel with three women?” Gable asked.

“I’m telling you he did,” Samson butted in, “Me and Mojo were walking back from the hotel gym and Val was at the door of his room with two chicks.  They’d obviously been there all night.”

“Val and I took two women back to the hotel,” Baron confirmed, ignoring Samson. 

Graves was smirking and nodding.  “Val picked up them at the club because he was in a bad mood.”

“Dude, your girlfriend picks up girls for you?!?” asked Jordan in awe.

“Val’s not my girlfriend,” he said.

“Sure, yeah, right, not your girlfriend.  You just have orgies together,” said Gable, rolling his eyes.

Baron felt his blood boiling.  He jerked his chin towards Jordan.  “He your boyfriend, then?” he asked Gable, “Cause I’ve heard the stories of the two of you taking a couple of women back to your shared room before.”

“Man, that’s different.  He’s a guy,” said Gable.

“Whatever,” said Baron and he walked out of the locker room.  He figured he’d walk the arena for a bit rather than listen to further comment.  As he turned down a hall, he heard Val’s voice.  It held a note of warning and he stopped to listen.

“…if I did?  Why would it possibly be of any interest to you, Alexa?” Val asked.

“Because your slutty behavior reflects badly on all of us!” yelled Alexa Bliss.

“Calm down, Alexa,” Baron heard Bayley say.

“The fact that you are constrained by antiquated notions of propriety is your business, but I will do what I want,” Val said.

“You’re a whore,” Alexa said.

Bayley gasped, “Alexa!  That’s not nice!”

“Shut up, Bayley!” Alexa said.

Suddenly, Baron heard Val laugh derisively.  He smiled in dark enjoyment as he knew that meant she was about to say something wonderfully cutting.

“I think you are jealous, Alexa.  I wonder, are you jealous of the fact that I can enjoy sex and you have been brainwashed by culture into not being able to?  Or is it something more personal, hmm?  Are you jealous I took others back to that hotel room and not you?” Val asked.

“You’re fucking disgusting!” Alexa said, yelling again.

“Oh!  That touched a nerve!  Now that we know that, I wonder if it is because you want to fuck Baron or because you want to fuck me?  Ooooh, both?  Naughty, naughty.”

Baron heard Alexa sputtering incoherently and Val laughing nastily.  He walked around the corner to see Alexa’s back against the wall, Val with one arm near her head, leaning against it, body inches from Alexa, staring directly into her eyes.  Bayley was standing on the other side of the hall watching with both hands pressed to her mouth.  Val looked at him and when she broke eye contact with Alexa, Alexa seemed to come unfrozen.  She shoved Val away from her and ran off down the hall.

“Hey, Baron,” Val greeted him, as though nothing unusual had happened. 

“Hey,” he replied.

Bayley looked from him back to Val.  “Are you two just going to act like nothing happened?  You really upset Alexa, Val.”

“Alexa deserved it, Bayley.  She called me a slut and a whore.  It was inappropriate,” Val stated.

“That wasn’t nice of her, but what you did wasn’t nice, either,” Bayley said sadly.

Val reached out and put her hand on Bayley’s shoulder.  Her whole demeanor had changed and the touch was sisterly.  “I am sorry, Bayley, I know it upsets you when people are not nice to each other.  I will do my best not to be mean in front of you again.”

Bayley smiled radiantly and gave Val one of her famous hugs.  “Thank you!  See you later for our match!” Bayley said.  Bayley looked at Baron hopefully and Val looked at him expectantly.  He rolled his eyes and stuck his arms out.  Bayley squealed and rushed at him, hugging him tightly.  “Val’s been a good influence on you, Baron!  You never let me hug you!”

Baron patted her back awkwardly and Val gave him a small, grateful smile.

Bayley released him and skipped off down the hall.

“You ok?” he asked Val.

“I am used to it,” Val said with a shrug, “Want to get something to drink?”

He nodded and they walked off to catering, chatting about their respective matches that night.

 

Baron was very glad that Finn Balor and Peyton Royce got caught fucking in an elevator at the next hotel, so the gossip’s focus shifted off Val and him and onto them.

 

After they got back from the tour, there was a group debriefing.  The trainers went over their thoughts on the matches as a whole.  Val and Baron both got generally positive comments mixed with useful critiques.  At the end of the meeting, as always, there was slideshow of fun, candid photos from the tour.  Some of the pictures were hilarious, showing pranks played in hotel rooms and on the bus.  Sometimes, it was just a group of them grinning at the camera or a particularly good angle on a spot from a match.  Included was the picture of Baron and Val that Sasha and Bayley had taken on the bus. He was asleep with Val next to him, head on his chest and his arm curled protectively around her. Baron felt his heart lurch strangely when looking at the picture.  All the women and some of the men said “Awwwww!” when it was on the screen.  Baron and Val looked at each other and rolled their eyes.


	10. Chapter 10

They had a few days free after the tour and Baron and Val had planned to go on another hike.  Unfortunately, the weather had other plans.  Half an hour before she was due to pick him up, Val texted.

Have you seen the weather?  Thunderstorms starting in two hours. 

Baron replied: Yeah, I guess no hike today.

Val texted back a frowny-face emoticon.

We could still hang out, if you want to, watch some Network or something, he wrote.

I would like that.  Should I arrive at the time we previously agreed upon?

Sure

Baron went around the house, straightening up things that were already fine.  He and Val had shared a lot, but having her hanging out at his house and not meeting up somewhere or working together at the center felt different.

Val arrived on time and he opened the door as she walked up.

“Good morning, Baron,” she greeted him.

“Morning,” he replied, stepping back so that she could come in the house.

“I brought this book back to you.  I finished it last night.  Are you done with the last one I lent you yet?”

“Not quite,” he said, “But almost.”

She nodded and handed him the book.

“You want the next one in the series?” he asked.

“Yes, please.  I have enjoyed these.”

“I’m glad,” he said, shelving the book she returned and grabbing the next one, “What do you want to watch?”

“Monday Night Wars?” she asked, hopefully.

“You and the Attitude Era,” he teased, but he turned on the television and started an episode.

They sat on the couch in companionable silence watching the show. 

“Would you have wanted to wrestle then?” he asked.

“No, I want to be a wrestler, not arm candy.  Evening gown matches are fine for valets, but I would not want to be relegated to that role.”

“I can understand that.  I think some of it would have been fun, though.”  
“Oh, absolutely,” she agreed.

A little while later, she asked, “Baron, have you ever thought about what your perfect match would be?”

“I have some ideas, but I’ve never fully planned something,” he admitted.

“Want to?”

“Sure, that could be fun.”

He got paper and pens from the kitchen and brought them back to the couch.  They started by listing all the things necessary for a good match and thinking about flow and rest periods and what moves they would want to make sure were included.  Baron knew he wanted to end it with the End of Days.  Val said her perfect match would include a Shining Wizard for certain.

“Would you want to do that thing where you bounce off the ring post and flip upside down?” he asked curiously.

Val laughed, “I did not know you had seen that.  No, probably not.  I think that would be frowned on in WWE.  Plus, would you trust any of the other women to catch me?”

“It is very cool, though.  Besides, we’re planning our perfect match, not our perfect match with caveats.”

“If that is the case, then definitely put it down.  It is a real showstopper,” she replied, “I would add that the transitions between each of these spots should be left in the moment.  It should not seem too rehearsed.”

Baron agreed.

Once they had the match designed in a way they were both happy with, they sat back and looked at the paper.

“How long do you think this would take to actually perform?” she asked.

“Want to do it and see?”

“Do you really think you and I could pull this off?”

“Most of the moves that take a lot of power were ones I put in.  With you being so light, it would be easy.  Most of the moves that you put in are high-flying, so it isn’t like you’d be picking me up.”

“I can throw you around,” she reminded him.

“Let’s try it some time,” he requested, “This could really be something.”

“Alright, but none of the stuff I am not supposed to be doing where anyone can see.”

He nodded.

Over the next several weeks, the time they could get a free ring was subsumed with practicing each aspect of the match. They rehearsed each spot time and again, late in the evenings. 

Finally, one night when no one else was around, they decided to run through the entire match.  It was the most fun Baron had ever had in the ring.  They were both on fire and working well together.  He was impressed with the height of her dropkick.  She fully sold his DDT.  Her shining wizard was perfection and his catch for her backflip off the ring post was smooth.  He sold it like he was dying.  They interspersed some arm bars and full nelsons.  She leap-frogged him and rolled over his back.  He suplexed her.  Three false-finishes were planned, two for her and one for him and the pinner counted the fall out loud so the other could kick out at the very last second.  They made a big show of her speed by him repeatedly “missing” when he tried to catch her and they played up his size by having him do a lengthy bear hug during a rest.  Finally, he did the End of Days, rolled her over, hooked the outside leg and counted three.  He rolled off and the two of them lay on their backs, panting with exertion.

Just as he was about to tell her how great it was, they heard what sounded like a single person clapping.  Baron sat up and standing in the darkened doorway of one of the offices that faced the ring was Triple H, with Billy Gunn standing next to him.  Baron froze, not knowing what to do.  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Val sit up, too, and heard her quietly say, “Oh, no.”

The two of them waited tensely for what was to come.

“That was spectacular,” said Triple H, though he directed it at Billy Gunn rather than at the two in the ring.

Billy nodded, “I told you they were doing something special.”

The two men walked together to the ring as they talked.

Neither Baron nor Val had so much as twitched.

Triple H looked at the two of them and said, “Good choreography, but some of those moves are banned for a reason.  An injury to either of you during this little show could have put you on the shelf for months or even been career-ending.”

“It was entirely my fault, sir,” Val said, “I talked Baron into it.”

“That’s not true,” said Baron, “I was just as much a part of this as she was.”

Triple H held up his hands to forestall any further discussion.

“No need to fall on your swords,” he said, “Just don’t do it again, no matter how amazing it was.”

Val and Baron nodded at him.

“Now go home, both of you.  And, Billy, get creative on a storyline for Val.  I want her on TV by the end of next month.”

“You got it, man,” said Billy.  He turned to the two in the ring and grinned, walking with Triple H back to the office.

Baron and Val rolled out of the ring and rushed out of the building, not even stopping to change.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” said Baron.

“Perhaps it is not that bad,” Val said.

“We just got caught wrestling each other, which isn’t allowed, and doing banned moves,” Baron stated.

“We also got told the match was spectacular and amazing rather than being fined, suspended or fired,” she retorted.

Baron nodded, considering her words and they departed.


	11. Chapter 11

A couple of weeks later, nothing more had been said about that night.  Baron tried to talk to Billy about it once, but Billy just laughed and walked off.

Baron started setting up for his work out one morning.  At 7, other people were arriving, but Val still hadn’t come.  It was unusual for her to be late.  In fact, he loved that she was always on time.  Other people might cause problems with his schedule, but she never did.  He was wondering what had happened and whether he should call to see if she overslept when his phone rang.  He saw that it was Val calling him and answered.

“Hey, you oversleep or something?” he asked.

“No, unfortunately, I have been in a car accident and my car is disabled,” Val replied.

Baron felt a moment of panic and his heart raced.

“Are you ok?  Are you at the hospital?” he asked.

“I am fine.  My car has been towed to an automotive repair shop and I rode with the tow truck driver to assess the damage.  I called the main line and did not get an answer.  Could you please let the coaches know I will be late?  I have to get a cab to the center.”

“Where are you?  I can come get you.”

“I appreciate the offer, Baron, but it is unnecessary.  I can get a cab.”

“Where are you?  I am coming,” he insisted and she told him.

He went to the front desk where the secretary was just putting down her bag.

“Val’s been in a car accident.  I’m going to check on her now,” he said to her without stopping to hear her reply.

Baron got on his bike and drove directly to the address Val had given him.  When he pulled up, he saw her leaning against the wall near the door.  She walked out to meet him.

“The car is not too damaged, thankfully, and the other driver was at fault,” she said.

“I don’t care about the car,” he said, getting off the motorcycle, “Are you ok?”

Baron put his hands on her elbows and brushed them up to her shoulders.  He knew it was ridiculous.  She was standing right in front of him and seemed ok.  He shouldn’t need to touch her like this to confirm it.

“I am fine, Baron,” she said, “I may be a little sore later, but it was nothing serious, just a fender bender.  I stopped at a light and the car behind me did not.”

“Why didn’t you go to the hospital?” he asked.

“Because. I. Am. Fine.” she said, clearly enunciating each word, “The paramedics checked me over and said I will have some bruising, maybe a little muscle pain, but nothing major.”

“There were paramedics?” he asked angrily, tightening his hands on her shoulders slightly.

“Yes, Baron.  The other driver was not wearing a seatbelt and her face hit the steering wheel.  She had a broken nose and the paramedics wanted to check me just in case.”

“You know you could be more hurt than you realize. Get on the bike and I’ll take you home,” he said, releasing her.

“Home?  We need to go back to the center,” she replied in confusion.

“No way.  You can’t train after a car accident, even a minor one.”

“I cannot take the day off.  I have too much to do.  Do you not remember that I am debuting soon?”

“You’re going home,” he said authoritatively.

Val pulled out her cell phone.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Calling a cab,” she replied.

Baron reached out and wrapped his hand around her hand that was holding the phone.

“Stop being stubborn and listen to me. You need to rest and make sure you’re not injured.  Whiplash and muscle strain could be worsened if you train.”

Val made a sound of frustration.

“Get on,” Baron said as he got back on his bike.

Val sighed and got on the bike behind him.  This wasn’t how he’d dreamed of getting her on his bike, he thought as she settled in, resting her hands lightly on his hips.  Not that he’d dreamed of any such thing, he told himself firmly.

Baron realized he didn’t actually know where Val lived.  How strange, he thought.  They’d known each other for so long now and he’d never seen her home, though she’d been to his many times.  Pretty much every day off recently, he realized.

“Which way?” he asked.  She gave him basic directions and he pulled out of the lot.  Riding with her was easy, he thought.  Baron didn’t often offer rides to people.  The times he had weren’t very pleasant.  Many people weren’t comfortable riding and didn’t know how to lean correctly for turns.  Val obviously knew what she was doing and he found that having her on the back of his motorcycle felt good.

As they got closer, she began directing him.  They were in a not-so-great neighborhood and the apartment building she had him park at was pretty run down.  When she got off the bike, he heard her breath catch in a way he’d learned when training with her meant she was in pain.  She’d seldom actually admit that, though.

“Where do you hurt?” he asked.

“I am fine,” she replied, “Just a little stiff.  Thank you for the ride.  It was nice to be on a motorcycle again.  I miss it.”

Baron nodded.  “Next time in better circumstances.”

Val smiled at him and he felt his chest tighten.

“I guess I will see you tomorrow, then,” she said.

“I’m not leaving.  I’m going to stay with you today and make sure you rest,” he said.

“You do not have to do that, Baron. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself,” Val replied.

“Don’t trust you.  You’ll be up doing gods know what.”

Val glanced towards the apartment door.  “My place is a mess,” she said warningly.

He raised an eyebrow and gestured towards the apartment building.  Val sighed and walked to the door of her apartment.  She opened it and led him into a miniscule studio apartment that looked like it hadn’t been updated in either carpeting or paint in at least a decade.  A bed took up a large portion of the space and a small café table with two chairs was positioned near the refrigerator.  There was a bookshelf overflowing with books.   A bureau and a desk rounded out the space.  They, too, were stacked with books.  Baron was pretty sure he’d been in hotel rooms that were bigger than this place.  It was, however, scrupulously clean.

“Mess?” he asked looking around.

“Books are everywhere and my breakfast dishes are still in the sink,” she replied.  He rolled his eyes.

“How are you feeling now?” he asked.

“More sore than I was earlier, to tell the truth.”

“Let me see.”

Val removed her t-shirt, standing in front of him in a sports bra and yoga pants.  He reached out and turned her so that the light better illuminated her left shoulder.  It was very red.

“You’re definitely going to have some bruising here,” he told her, using his finger to gently trace the rash left by the seatbelt. 

“Does it look very bad?” she asked.

“No, but you should still take it easy for a few days to be on the safe side.”

“I will probably be multicolored for my television debut match,” she said, frowning.  Val tried to pull off her sports bra, but cursed at the pain it sent shooting through her sore shoulder.

“Let me help,” Baron said, “Just lift your arms.”

He slipped his thumbs under the tight material and pulled it up and off her.

“Thank you,” Val said, pulling her t-shirt back on.

“You should lie down now,” he said.

Baron called Billy and explained the situation.  Billy said he would let everyone know and that Baron should stay to keep an eye on Val, just in case.  He also said she should come in the next day and go straight to the trainers or to the hospital if she felt any worse tonight.

“Thank you,” Val said when he hung up.  He nodded at her.

Val scooted to one side of the bed and took some ibuprofen from a bottle in the night stand.  When Baron saw what she was doing, he filled a glass from the drying rack with water and brought it to her. 

“Thank you,” she said, taking the pills.  “Would you like to lie here with me and read for a while?” she invited.

Baron selected a book and lay next to her.  A companionable silence fell across the room.  After a couple of hours, Val turned to her side and hissed.

Baron shifted to face her, putting his book to the side. “Pain worse?” he asked.

“No, I just moved without thinking,” she said.

Baron sat up and took Val’s left hand.  He began massaging each finger, then her palm and wrist, working his way up her arm. 

“Mmm, that feels nice,” Val said, eyes closed.

He skipped over her injured shoulder, moving instead to her neck.

“Roll over,” he directed.

Val did so and he pushed her hair out of the way, rubbing the back of her neck, down the left side of her back, up the right side and then down her right arm. 

When he was finished, Val sighed, “I feel so relaxed.”  She yawned.

Val repositioned herself on her back and grabbed Baron’s hand, tugging him down to lie next to her again.  She cuddled up to him.

It was at that moment that Baron realized he was in love with her.  He didn’t form emotional attachments with people easily and he didn’t touch people or let people touch him.  Yet, here he was lying on her bed, having massaged her and letting her use him as a pillow.  He remembered the abject fear he’d felt that morning when she’d called saying she had been in an accident.  He wondered at this new-found realization.  How long had this been creeping up on him, he wondered.  Moreso, how would he handle it now that he knew it?  Val had never expressed anything more than friendship for him.  What if he told her and she then wanted nothing to do with him?  Baron glowered and embraced anger.  He didn’t know what to do with all these unusual feelings, but anger was his old companion.  He knew what to do with it.

“I’m going to get us food,” he told her, standing up.

“Ok,” Val said, looking surprised at his abruptness.

Baron left, riding around longer than he really had to in order to clear his head.  He accepted the fact that he was in love with Val.  He also accepted the fact that he did not know how she felt about him.  He decided that, for now, he should keep quiet and try to ascertain her feelings about him.  If she didn’t return his feelings, he would never let her know.  Better to have her as a friend only than to scare her away.  The thought of not talking to her or not seeing her caused an unpleasant sensation in the pit of his stomach.  He bought food and returned to Val’s apartment. 

He walked in to her doing squats at the end of the bed.

“What are you doing?” he asked, frowning.

“Stretching,” she replied.

“Sit down and eat,” he said.

“Why do you live here?” he asked in between bites, eyes roving over the small room.

“When I got the call to come to NXT, I was not sure it would work out, so I found the cheapest place I could without a roommate.  That way, if I left I would not be putting anyone else out and would not be out that much money,” she replied, “Then time got away from me.  I really ought to look for a better place.  My lease ends this month.”

 “Why don’t you just rent my spare room?” Baron asked, “It’s a three bedroom house with just me living there.  The room isn’t used for anything.  It has its own bathroom.”  He was nervous about this offer, but he did not show it.

“There would be many potential problems if I did, Baron,” she replied.

“Such as?” he asked.

“We already train together and hang out a lot.  This would put us living together, too.”

“Lots of wrestlers have other wrestlers as roommates.”

“You need your space to wind down and be alone and so do I.”

“We’d have our own rooms for that.”

“What would people say, Baron?  I do not care for me, but I will not make a spectacle of you.  People already gossip.”

He looked at her seriously.  “Fuck them.  Their opinions don’t matter to us and you know it, Val.”

“If I do not find a place soon, fine, I will consider it.”

“Just know that it is an option and, if you find another situation you’d prefer later, no harm.”

They went back to reading after lunch and talked off and on about various topics.  Baron shoved his realizations from earlier aside and focused on keeping them locked away where they could do no harm.

As evening turned into night, Val told him to go home and that she’d see him the next morning.  He tried to argue that she should have someone there overnight, but she stood firm, promising to call if her condition changed.


	12. Chapter 12

When they met up the next morning at the center, she showed him the ugly bruises that had formed.  The trainers confirmed that nothing was seriously hurt and told her to take it easy for a few days.  She told Baron how relieved she felt as she had worried that this would push back her debut.

In the limited time she could devote to it, Val did some apartment hunting.  Baron accompanied her, pointing out all the flaws in the places she viewed. 

“I know what you are doing,” she told him as they got in her car after one such appointment.

“What?” he asked.

“You are pointing out all the problems because you want me to move in with you,” she stated.

Baron felt anxious.  Had she figured out his secret?

“If you really want me to live with you and do not think it will be a problem, then I will do so.  You are a good friend to me, Baron,” Val told him, patting his shoulder.  “I demand that you let me pay you a fair market rate.  I will not be a kept woman,” she looked at him and winked. 

“Whatever,” he said, rolling his eyes at her like he didn’t care.

That weekend, they packed her belongings and moved them into the spare room in his house.  Neither saw the need to mention it to anyone and they found over the next several weeks that living together was actually beneficial to both of them.  She was a much better cook than he was, plus she actually enjoyed cooking and knew his macros.  In return, he did the dishes and made the protein shakes, since she found the sound of the blender grating.  It also meant that they could ride to the center together on days they had similar schedules.  All in all, things were going well, he thought.  He had been successful at walling off those inconvenient feelings.  So what if he found himself watching her as she cooked?  So what if he found himself looking forward to being home from the center because he knew they’d sit together on his couch and read?  So what if each night when she told him she was going to bed, he fantasized about her inviting him to come to bed with her? 

There had been some close calls, too, times that he had to squash the urge to pull her into his arms and hold her as they walked in the door or to walk up behind her in the kitchen, wrap an arm around her waist and bury his face in her hair or just to sit close enough to her on the couch while they were reading or watching television that he could reach out and stroke her hand.

It didn’t help that there were times that she touched him.  He never initiated it, but figured that if she did, what was the harm in enjoying it?  He indulged himself by remembering some of those touches.  Some were fleeting, hands touching as one passed something to the other or them brushing past each other in the narrow upstairs hallway.  A few were more special to him.

On a day that Baron had an interview, he’d put on a suit and as he was passing by her in that narrow hallway, she’d reached out and put her hand on his chest.  He’d stopped, surprised.  She’d used the hand on his chest for balance and, on her tip toes, leaned in to smell his neck.  “You smell good,” she’d said as she leaned back and straightened his shirt collar.  “Cologne,” he’d managed to say as his heart started beating again.  She’d nodded and wished him luck in his interview, walking into her room.

Another morning, his alarm hadn’t gone off.  He was sleeping lightly when he heard a gentle knock on his bedroom door and her voice calling his name.  “Yeah?” he had called out and Val walked in his bedroom in her normal workout gear.  “Are you coming to the center today or not, sleepy head?” she’d asked him, smiling.  He had stretched and the sheet slipped lower on his waist, exposing his bare chest.  “Bed feels awfully good today,” he replied, smiling lazily back at her.  She had laughed and reached down to tickle his ribs.  He’d grabbed her wrists and yanked her off balance so that she fell onto the bed next to him, tickling her back.  She’d screeched at him to stop, both of them laughing.  There’d been a moment as they’d settled down that it took every bit of willpower he had not to kiss her.  Then, she’d stood and told him to hurry up if he wanted to ride to the center with her.

One evening, they were sitting on the couch together and he was replying to morons on Twitter via his cellphone.  Val wanted to show him a video a fan had posted, so she’d leaned back against his chest, holding the phone so they could both see it.  She’d stayed like for a while that even after the video ended and they’d each gone back to their own phones.  Well, she had.  He’d luxuriated in the feel of her lying against him, the smell of her, her warmth.

On the day of Val’s first official televised match, Baron noted a buzz of excitement from her.  She had more nervous energy than usual.  The promos to hype her debut had been running for three weeks and fans who knew her from the indies were already carrying signs for her.  Baron was a bit anxious himself, hoping that everything went perfectly.  She’d be facing Nia Jax.  She was happy about that as the two worked well together.

They went to the center as usual that day to get in a work out and make last minute plans.  Baron noticed Val checking her phone frequently.  It was unusual behavior for her, but he figured it was because of her nerves.

As they walked out of the center, he saw a man he didn’t know walking towards the door.  Val saw the man at the same time and let out a screech, running towards him.  Val wrapped her arms around the man, then took his face in her hands and started feathering kisses all over his cheeks and forehead.  He was laughing and saying something in a language Baron couldn’t understand.  Val replied to him in the same language between kisses.

Baron stood still, taking in the scene before him.  The man was of a height with Val, thin and had shoulder-length blond hair.  There was no denying the man was beautiful.  He looked like he’d just stepped off a movie set.  Baron had no idea who the man was, but he felt a strong urge to break his perfect-looking nose as Val kissed it.

At that moment, Val looked back over her shoulder at him.  “Baron,” she called, “Come meet Wulfric!”

Baron felt relief flood his body, tinged with a little embarrassment.  Wulfric.  Val’s brother.  The burlesque choreographer. 

He walked over to the pair and Wulfric extended his hand, “Hei! Hvordan har du det?”

“English, brother,” Val reminded.

“Sorry, sorry, hello, Baron, how are you?” Wulfric asked.

Baron shook Wulfric’s hand, “Good.  You?”

“Excellent!” Wulfric replied.

“Wulfric decided to surprise me by coming for my television debut,” Val told Baron.  He told her he was pleased for her.

Wulfric accompanied the two to the arena.  Baron watched in amusement as Val introduced her brother to those who inquired, which happened to include pretty much the entire female contingent of the company.  Wulfric seemed diametrically opposed to Val in personality.  Where she was reserved, he was effusive.  Where she was serious, he was humorous.

Baron didn’t have a match this particular night, so he sat with Wulfric when it was time for Val to go get changed into her ring gear and get her make up done.

“Thank you, Baron,” Wulfric said out-of-the-blue.

Confused, Baron looked at him. “What are you thanking me for?” he asked.

“My sister is difficult and I know this.  You have very much brought her out of herself.  She is usually too much alone,” Wulfric said.

Internally, Baron held down the laughter that threatened to spill out at the idea of him of all people having brought anyone out of their shell.

“We’re alike in that way,” Baron acknowledged, “I like being around Val very much.”

“I love my sister, but I worry about her.  I want her happiness.  I did not understand when she said she was going to do wrestling, but she does not understand my dancing, either.  Our paths are different.  I want her to not be so alone.”

Baron nodded, “I’m sure I’d feel the same if I had a sister.”

“Do you have any siblings?” Wulfric asked.

“A couple of half-brothers from my father’s second marriage, but they were born after I was already grown.  I don’t really know them.”

“With Val being just two years younger, it was very different for us.  Also, moving to the US and being different from the other children at school made us closer, I think.  I went back to Norway for college and she stayed here.  I know it is silly, but I wish she had gone back like I did.  It is where I met Sigurd and I have wondered if she went back, maybe she would have met someone, too.”

“Sigurd?” Baron queried.

“My husband.  I would worry less about Val if she had a husband or a wife to take care of her.”

“That makes sense.”

“She does not tell me much about her love life or really any of her personal life.  Your name is the only one she has said to me when telling me about her life here in Florida, though she has said it often.  I must admit, when she said she was moving into your house, I had hoped…” Wulfric trailed off.

Baron realized that the man was fishing.  Before he could decide how to respond, Val walked back up.  Her hair was now in a French braid and her makeup emphasized her eyes.  She’d gone round and round with management over specifications for her new ring gear, flat-out refusing the cropped-vest-and-hot-pants combo she’d first been presented with sketches of.   The compromise had been a sleeveless dark crimson singlet with strategically-placed mesh panels.  She seemed happy with how it turned out. 

She threw her arm over Wulfric’s shoulder.  “What are you two discussing?” she asked.

Wulfric smiled at her.  “I was telling Baron embarrassing stories about you, like the time you played Brigitta von Trapp in the school production of The Sound of Music,” he teased.

Baron laughed and Val put her brother in a headlock.

“Stop that, Wulfric,” she ordered, releasing him, “Enough distraction!  I have to get ready for my match.  If you tell any more stories, I will make you regret it.”

“Yes, Val,” Wulfric replied mildly.

Baron led Wulfric to where they could watch Val’s debut as she walked over to confer with Nia Jax.  Nia went to the ring and, as soon as the music from Val’s promos started playing, the crowd went crazy.  During the match, Baron snorted as he heard them singing the chorus of “Valleri” by the Monkees, but replacing “Valleri” with “Valkyrie.”  Wulfric laughed with delight and hummed along.

After a particularly complicated exchange between the two women, he looked at Baron and said, “She really is quite good, is she not?”

Without removing his eyes from the screen that held his attention rapt, Baron breathed, “She is amazing.”

After pinning Nia, Val celebrated with the crowd for a few minutes and returned to the back where Baron and Wulfric awaited her.

She was so hyped up from the match and reaction of the crowd, she seemed to be vibrating.  When she got behind the curtain, she vaulted herself at Baron and he caught her with ease, swinging her around 360 degrees.  “Was it not wonderful?” she exclaimed when he put her down, hugging him tightly.

“It was perfect,” Baron agreed.

She released him and hugged her brother before hugging Nia and standing with her to accept the congratulations of everyone back stage.

“Thank you, Nia,” Baron heard Val say once things had calmed down, “I could not have asked for a better debut and you were just great.”

Nia smiled and agreed, hugging Val again.


	13. Chapter 13

Once the show was over, Baron, Wulfric and Val went out to celebrate, drinking and talking until the bar closed.  They dropped Wulfric off at his hotel after making plans to eat breakfast together the next morning before his flight and went home, exhilaration finally turning into exhaustion.   Baron had been careful to pace himself through the evening and stopped drinking well before last call so that he would be able to safely drive them home.  Val, on the other hand, had drunk more than normal and was quite tipsy.

“It was a good debut, yes, Baron Corbin?” she asked as he helped her into the house.  He wasn’t carrying her, but it was a near thing.

“Yes, Val,” Baron assured her for the fifty millionth time that night.

“I think so, too.  I am glad that this storyline was chosen.  Not that I would have really minded the one with you, of course, but I wanted to debut as a wrestler, not as a glorified valet.”

“With me?  What are you talking about?”

“It was mentioned in a meeting with the creative team.  Having me debut with you, but it would have been a mistake.  My legitimacy as a competitor would have been called into question and you are a heel, so that would have been strange for me.   Besides, you need to be unencumbered so the main roster call up is not compromised.  I just know it is coming any time now.”

“You never mentioned that they wanted us to work an angle together.”

“It was not worth mentioning.  It was not even a fully developed option, just a ‘what-if’ in a meeting.”

During the conversation, Baron had ushered Val into the house and up the stairs to her bedroom.

“It would be fun to work with you, Baron.  Maybe we will get to some day in the future.”

Baron snorted. “Knowing creative, it would be supremely fucked up.”

Val sat on the bed and removed her shoes.  “Oh, I can only imagine!”

She jumped up and walked the few steps to where he stood leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed over his chest.

“What do you think?  Since I am face, would they show me being attracted to you as the bad boy and seduced into a heel turn?” she asked.  As she said it, she turned a smoldering look on him and used one finger to trace from his temple to his jaw, dropping her eyes to rest enticingly on his lips.

Baron felt his heart rate skyrocket.

“Only to then be cruelly cast aside once you had had your wicked way with me?” she said, melodramatically throwing an arm over her eyes and flinging herself backwards onto the bed.  She peeked at him from under her arm and grinned.

Despite her jocular tone, Val saying anything about him having his wicked way with her made Baron feel very aroused.

“Or, maybe it would be the other way around?  Maybe I would get to entice you,” Val said, slowly and provocatively drawing her hands up her body from her prone position on the bed.

Baron swallowed at the sight and forced himself to keep contact with the doorframe as though it were a life raft after his ship had sunk. 

“I can hear the wolf-taming jokes now,” he replied and she laughed.

“Well, that would not do at all,” she proclaimed, “You’ll just have to seduce me.”

Baron knew he needed to leave her room right then.  Instead, he closed his eyes, breathed in and allowed himself to envision doing exactly what she’d just suggested.  He imagined running his hands all over her body until she was begging him for more.   When he opened his eyes again, Val was sitting up on the end of the bed watching him.

“Gods, yes, Baron, that look is perfect.  If you do that in a promo, your fan club will go crazy.  As though I needed yet another thing to be jealous of you about.”

Baron shook off the fantasy.  “What?” he asked.

“First you are stronger than me and now you are sexier than me, too.”

Baron laughed at this ludicrous statement.  “As though I could ever be sexier than you.” 

“You are.  Next time, you will have to be the one to bring back extra when I am in a bad mood.”

“Yeah, right,” he said, rolling his eyes.

Val pulled her shirt off and started to unbutton her pants.  “Do you want pancakes or waffles in the morning?” she asked, nonchalantly.

“Waffles,” Baron said, again telling himself it was time to go to his room.

“Then waffles it shall be,” Val said, pushing her pants down her hips and stepping out of them.  In her black satin bra and panties, she took the few steps over to where he stood.  “Does my hair smell like the bar?  I really just want to go to bed and not deal with it tonight, but I also do not want to feel all gross in the morning.”

“I’m sure it will be fine,” he managed to choke out.

“Definitely a shower, then,” she said, stepping back and undoing the clasp of her bra.  She slipped it off and tossed it on the bed. 

Her breasts were full and beautiful and she was standing there next to a bed, in his house, his territory, in nothing but black satin panties.  A little voice in Baron’s head whined about the unfairness of the situation.  Another pointed out how easy it would be to walk over and touch her, make his earlier fantasy real, take her there on the bed.  He shut that down immediately and listened to the one telling him to get away before he did something that he would regret.

He closed his eyes stepped back from the doorway.  See, he told himself, it wasn’t that hard, third time’s the charm and such.  When he opened his eyes, Val was standing with her back to him, bent over removing her panties.  Fuck.  Her ass was perfect.  He stopped himself from taking a step forward at the last moment.

She stood up and turned around to look at him.  “Are you going to bed, then?” she asked.

He nodded.

Val walked over and slipped her arms around his neck, pressing her naked body against him.  Baron reflexively put his arms around her, resting his hands on her back.  She leaned her head on his shoulder.

“Thank you, Baron,” she said.

“For what?” he asked, very quietly.

“For being there for me tonight.  For being there for me for months now.  Training with you helped get me where I needed to be for my debut.  I am truly at a different level than I was in the indies and you have been a big part of that.  I just want you to know how very much I appreciate everything that you have done for me.  I have never had someone quite like you in my life and I value your presence.”

Baron felt an overwhelming rush of emotion at hearing this.  He squeezed her tight and tilted his head to kiss the top of hers.  She nuzzled at the side of his neck and sighed happily.  They stood like that for a long while.  He reveled in the feeling of her in his arms this way. 

She pulled back from him slightly.  “Alcohol makes me so sleepy.  If I don’t lie down now, I’m going to fall asleep standing up.  You’re too comfortable like this.”

Val stretched up and kissed his cheek.  “Good night.”

“Good night,” he managed to say in return.

 

Baron slept little and woke relatively early considering how late he’d gone to bed.  He pulled a t-shirt on and, in it and his pajama pants, went downstairs in search of coffee.  As he walked down the stairs, he smelled coffee and other good things.  He also heard voices speaking a language he didn’t know and realized Wulfric must have already arrived.

Yawning, he walked into the kitchen.   Wulfric was seated on the bar side of the kitchen island, drinking coffee.  Val was putting a bowl of batter down in front of the waffle iron.

“Ah, the waffles woke you, Baron!” Wulfric exclaimed.

Baron made his way into the kitchen, heading for the coffee pot.

“Sit down, Baron,” Val said, already turning to get him a mug.

He looked at her in gratitude.

“Baron’s not much for talking before his coffee,” Val said to her brother as she placed the mug of coffee in front of Baron.

“So, about what we were discussing,” Wulfric began.

“Leave it, Wulfric,” Val interrupted, glancing at Baron.

“Fine,” he replied.

Baron finished his coffee and felt marginally more human.  Soon a plate of waffles and bacon was placed in front of him.  Conversation revolved around Val’s debut and Wulfric’s flight.  Soon, it was time to drive him to the airport.  Baron rode along, enjoying listening to the banter between sister and brother.  At the drop off, Val got out of the car to hug her brother.  Wulfric asked Baron to take a picture of them and he obliged.  Then, he requested a picture of Baron and Val together.  He directed Baron to wrap an arm around Val and kept telling them to get closer until Val said, “Stans! Take your picture, Wulfric!”

He laughed and kissed her cheek, then shook Baron’s hand and headed into the terminal.


	14. Chapter 14

About a month after Val’s television debut, word got out about their living arrangements.  Someone in the office had noticed that her address matched his when she updated it and, as always seemed to happen in the company, gossip spread. 

Baron was finishing his last set in the weight room.  He had pushed himself and felt really good, if sweaty and exhausted.

Graves, Zayn and some of the other guys were around when Mojo Rawley walked up to him.  Baron was annoyed by the man’s mere presence and Mojo seemed to enjoy trying to get under Baron’s skin. 

“So, Corbin, word is Val moved in to your place.  You even know what to do with a woman like that?” Mojo asked.

Baron grimaced, but ignored the man, turning his back on him as he finished putting away the weights he’d been using.

“Figures.  You can’t even talk.  Let me guess! FRIEND-ZONED,” Mojo said loudly, laughing.

“It isn’t your business, Rawley,” replied Baron, the warning tone clear in his voice.

Baron saw Val walk in from the hall behind Mojo.  She stepped around him like he was beneath her notice and slipped an arm around Baron’s waist.  When he looked down at her in surprise, she was looking up at him.  She leaned up and gently brushed her lips over his.  It wasn’t a huge gesture, but she did it confidently as though they had kissed that way a hundred times before.

“Are you nearly ready to go home?” she asked, keeping her face only inches from his.

“Yes,” he managed to choke out.  He was relieved to hear that it sounded more normal to his ears than it felt in his throat.  His heart was racing.

Val released him.  “I will meet you at the car in twenty minutes,” she said, nodding to Graves and Zayn amicably and heading out of the gym.  If, perhaps, there was slightly more sway to her hips than usual as she walked away, it wasn’t enough to comment on.  He certainly wouldn’t comment on it.  As she reached the end of the room, she looked over her shoulder at the group and smiled at him invitingly.  How did she know they’d all be watching her walk off? a small part of his brain wondered.

Graves and Zayn were grinning at him like idiots.  Baron was floored and trying to piece together what just happened without making the fact that he was doing so obvious.  Mojo had a look of shock on his face as he slunk away.

Graves slapped Baron on the shoulder and Zayn said, “Holy shit, man.  Just, holy shit.” 

“Dark horse, just like I said that night at the bowling alley,” announced Coach Billy Gunn who’d apparently been watching from the other side of the gym.

“I need to go shower,” Baron said, striding quickly towards the locker room.

He overheard Billy say to Graves and Zayn, “Hell, I’d be running to shower, too, if that woman said she’d see me in twenty minutes like that.”

Baron showered in relatively cool water and tried to reason out why Val would do what she did.  He felt like his brain wasn’t firing on all cylinders.  He dressed and walked out to her car, finding her leaned against it.  They got in and she started driving.

He was trying to figure out the right words to ask her about her actions.

She glanced at him.  “I’m sorry,” she finally said.

“What just happened?” he asked.

“Rawley was being such an ass.  I cannot stand the man.  Hearing him speak to you that way just made me so angry.  I reacted poorly and I hope I did not embarrass you.”

“You kissed me.”

“Are you angry?”

“No, it was nice.  I’m just confused about why you did it.”

“I was coming to warn you that the rumor mill was going because Dana had just said something to me in the locker room and I overheard him say you would not know what to do with a woman.  It just made me want to prove him wrong.  I know you will ask what care a wolf has for the opinions of sheep, but  how dare a man like him, a man who does not even know the taste of his own blood, speak to you that way?” Val ranted, slamming her hand against the steering wheel.  She was seething with rage.  Suddenly, she stopped.  “You thought it was nice?” she asked.

Baron wondered if he had hit his head recently because he heard something in her voice that he would have called hopeful in another person.

“Yes,” he said.

“Oh,” she replied. 

They drove the rest of way home in silence.  Once they parked and got out of the car, they walked in the house.  He reached forward and took her hand.  Val stopped and turned to face him in the dark entryway.  Baron had been thinking and what-if-ing during the quiet part of the car ride.  He still wasn’t exactly sure what he was doing, but he had this deep-down feeling that he needed to do something and that this was the moment.

Baron closed the short distance between them.  He brought his left hand up to touch her face.  She tipped her head back slightly and nuzzled her face against his hand.  Without consciously deciding to do so, Baron found himself kissing her.  He did so gently, the way she’d kissed him at the gym, and he touched her face and hand only lightly.  That way, she could easily back away if she wanted to.  Rather than doing so, Val slid her arms around his neck, pulling him closer and, in turn, he wrapped his arms around her waist.  The kiss changed from feather light, becoming more firm. 

Baron couldn’t think.  He could just feel.  Without breaking the kiss, he felt Val pull him into the living room and press him down on the couch.  She came with him, straddling his lap and kissing him like she was drowning and he was air.

He felt her hands under his shirt on his upper chest moving slowly from left to center to right and back again in the same pattern.  He realized that, without looking, she was tracing the outline of his tattoo.  That led to the realization that she must have looked at his tattoo a lot.  The previous realization coupled with the fact that she was in his lap kissing him made him feel pretty sure she had feelings beyond friendship for him. 

It was both completely overwhelming and utterly wonderful at the same time. 

He realized she was tugging on his shirt and sat up a bit so she could pull it off.  She pulled hers off, too, but was quickly kissing him again.  Odd, he thought, that this skin-to-skin contact could be so qualitatively different when it was also so similar to when they were in the ring.

Her fingers were in his hair, tipping his head back as she kissed down his jawline and then his throat.

He moaned when her lips touched a particularly sensitive spot.  Her hands left his hair and she took his hands from where they’d been resting on her hips and moved them to bare skin.

How was it possible that any human being could be as soft as she was?  He’d always noticed it about her and it was at the forefront of his fantasies of touching her all over.  So soft.  He pressed one hand to her lower back and stroked the other up her spine, letting it rest against the back of her neck and feeling her shudder.

He kissed down her throat and nipped his teeth across her collarbone.  She reached back and undid the clasp of her bra, tossing it to the side.  Again, she took his hands and guided them to where she wanted.  Having seen her breasts or even having had them press, clothed, against his chest was nothing compared to having them in his hands.  So perfect.  Her back was arched to give him full access and, without fully realizing he was doing so, he mumbled “perfect” over and over.

Val’s hands moved to the waistband of his athletic shorts, tugging at them the way she had his shirt when she wanted it off.  He wrapped one arm around her to press her to his chest and arched up to use his other hand to help her rid him of the shorts and his boxers.  When he relaxed back onto the couch, she wrapped her hand around his cock, stroking it and biting his lower lip. 

With a bit of complicated maneuvering, while still managing to continue kissing him and pressing herself against his chest, Val was able to remove her workout pants.  Kneeling astride him, she teased him by rubbing herself along his hardness.  He was nearly driven mad by how hot and wet she felt.  His hands went to her hips, urging her to join with him.  She quickly guided him into her, moaning in ecstasy as he filled her.  Val and Baron stayed completely still for a moment, adjusting to the newness of him being inside her. 

Soon, though, Val started to move and Baron found that he couldn’t think anymore at all.  There was just feeling and heat and friction.  He heard her cry out and felt her convulse and tighten, then he was coming right along with her.

After, she collapsed against his chest and just breathed for a few moments.  Then, she said, “Baron, I do not mean this to try to tie strings, but that was very special to me.”

He opened his mouth to respond and out came the words “I love you.”  Before he could even process what he had done, Val said, “I love you, too.”


	15. Chapter 15

After lying together for a while without speaking, they cleaned up and Val began preparing dinner.  Baron indulged himself by walking up behind her when she was standing at the stove, wrapping his arm around her waist and burying his face in her hair, just as he’d fantasized about.  She’d leaned into him responsively.

Baron wanted to talk to her about what they’d done and said, but he wasn’t sure how to begin the conversation.  He thought about it while they ate and when they moved together to the couch.  Instead of sitting on the other end, she arranged herself next to him so that they were touching.  He took that as a good sign.

“Baron, when you said you love me, how do you mean it?” she asked, “Was it just because we had sex?”

Baron decided to go with radical honesty.

“No.  I’ve known I love you for a while now,” he replied.

“And you did not tell me, even after I threw myself at you the night of my debut?”

“What?”

“I realized my feelings for you were something different from what I had felt before, that I loved you, the day you took me to my apartment and stayed with me after my car accident.  The night of my debut when you rejected me, I gave up hope of you feeling the way I did.”

“Rejected?  What?”  Baron felt like his brain was not working again.  “You’d been drinking and it wouldn’t have been right for me to take advantage.”

Val stared at him like he’d grown a second head.

“I was euphoric, but far from drunk.  I attempted to seduce you and you just walked off to your bedroom.”

“Why didn’t you say something?”

“Why did you not?”

“Because I was afraid you didn’t feel the same and I would ruin everything!”

“It was the same for me,” she admitted.

They stared at each other, both turning over how blind they’d been in their minds.

“When did you know?” she asked.

“The same day as you.  We were lying on your bed and I realized it, so I got up to go get food to give myself time to think.”

Val laughed.

“When you left, I thought about how I had felt when you were touching me.  I felt so comfortable and wanted to keep you there with me forever.  I have had friends.  I have had sex partners.  I have had friends who were also sex partners.  I had never felt that, this, before.  It was then that I realized I had fallen in love with you.”

Baron wasn’t sure what to think.  They’d both realized they loved the other, but hadn’t been willing to act on it for fear of losing the other.

“I suppose I should have listened to Wulfric,” Val said.

“Wulfric?” Baron queried.

“My brother knew my feelings.  He guessed and I cannot lie to him.  He encouraged me to tell you.”

“He asked me some leading questions,” Baron confirmed.

“I fear we have both been very foolish and cowardly,” Val said sadly.

Baron nodded.  “No more, though.  We can’t let that happen again. Okay?”

It was Val’s turn to nod.  “This is new to me and I am nervous.”

Baron smiled and took Val’s hand in both his, rubbing it between them.  “I am, too, but what I feel isn’t something I can keep pushing away.”

Val leaned in and kissed him gently.  “I do not want you to,” she said.

He wrapped his arms around her and leaned back against the arm of the couch, pulling her back to rest against his chest.  They sat quietly for a long time just feeling each other’s heart beats.

Baron pushed all the thoughts out of his head and just focused on how it felt to hold her.  He tipped her head back to kiss her again.  This kiss was slow and languid.  He took his time to fully explore her mouth, having full control of the kiss due to the way he was holding her.  She stayed completely relaxed against him.  He felt drunk from kissing her.  What had begun languorously had turned much more needful.

“Will you come to my bed?” he asked between kisses.  She nodded.  He stood and led her upstairs and into his bedroom.

He pulled her onto the bed with him, kissing her gently.  He slowly and carefully removed the clothing she’d put back on.  Each increment of skin the undressing revealed was touched and kissed and celebrated.  He smiled at her quick intake of breath as he bit one of her nipples.

Once she was completely naked, he moved to take off his own shirt, but Val stopped him.

“I want to,” she said, drawing it over his head and splaying her hands over his chest.  He lay back on the bed and let her touch and kiss him as she wished.  Her mouth trailed kisses from shoulder to shoulder, then down.  She pulled his shorts off, exposing his erection.  Her tongue flicked out to tease at its head and his hips thrust forward slightly of their own accord. 

Baron grabbed the wrist of the arm she was using to hold herself up and used it to pull her up next to him.  He kissed down her neck to her collarbone, propping himself up above her prone form on one elbow and snaking his other hand down to slide two fingers into her.  She moaned and bucked against him and he moved back up to capture her mouth again.

“Baron, I need you,” she gasped.

He nodded, withdrawing his fingers and sitting up between her legs.  Slowly, he pressed forward into her.  This was different from the frenzied rush of their first coupling earlier on the couch.  A little voice in Baron’s head told him this was lovemaking.  He moved in long, slow strokes, watching Val’s head thrown back and her breasts thrust forward as her back arched up from the bed.  He kept that slow, steady pace for as long as he could, fighting the urge to move faster and harder until her body began to demand it.  She writhed around his dick, pressing against him, compelling him to fuck her harder.  The noises she was making were driving him mad.

His hands had her thighs in a bruising grip, but she didn’t seem to care.  He let go with one hand and used his fingers to rub her clit while he fucked her.  She was gasping and nearly crying begging him to never stop, to keep going and then she was coming.  He could feel her tighten and hear her cry out.  When she did, he leaned forward to capture her mouth and with a few more short, hard strokes he was hissing with his release, too.  He stayed inside her, with his forehead against hers, both of them panting with the aftermath. 

“I love you,” she said.

“I love you, too” he replied.

And they slept.

 

 

The next morning, Baron invited Val to come with him to the center on the motorcycle.  Both knew it was a strong statement.  Again, he was thrilled by how good it felt to have her there.  She was so natural at it.

“How did you learn to ride so well?” he asked, helping her off the bike and pulling her into his arms. 

“A former lover,” she said, “The same one who taught me to play pool, actually.”

“Really?  She sounds cool,” he said.

“He, actually,” she replied, “It was good fun, nothing serious for either of us.  He did have the loveliest pink hair, though.”

“If that’s what you’re into, we might have a problem,” Baron said, “I don’t think I could pull off pink hair.”

Val laughed and tangled her hands in his hair, pulling him down for a kiss.  “I absolutely forbid it!”

They were then distracted by a series of whoops and hollers coming from inside the front windows of the center.  When they looked up, it seemed like damn near the entire roster was crammed against them watching.

Val laughed again and pulled him in for another kiss and he obliged, just to prove he didn’t care who was watching or what they thought, of course.

That afternoon, Baron found out that Corey Graves had made a killing in various bets that Baron and Val would get together.

 

A few days later, Baron had a match against Mojo Rawley.  He hit Mojo like a force of nature and left him lying in the middle of the ring after the three count.  Baron stood over him looking down as he often did with his opponents, savoring their defeat and his victory.  This time, though, when he looked down at Mojo, he said, “Thank you.”  He wasn’t sure if Mojo was cognizant enough to understand him, but he felt like he had done what he was supposed to by thanking the man who’d brought him together with the woman he loved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of this part, but I have a mind to write a few more things in this little world I've created. I hope you enjoyed it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading.


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